Angelic Intervention: Dark Forces
by MiatheRabbit
Summary: [FFVII,FFVIII,FFIX] Sequel to 'Angelic Intervention' now with FFVI and FFX!
1. Dreams and Reality

* * *

**_Author's Notes:_**

**_The chapters are a little shorter this time because I felt Angelics Intervention's were little long to read all at once..._**

* * *

**Chapter One: Dreams and Reality**

Rinoa unfolded her wings and began shooting spells at a man in his late twenties dressed all in black with long silver hair. The man rolled to avoid one of Rinoa's Holy spells, then came at Rinoa with his long sword which seemed to be at least two meters in length.

"Persistent bitch!" he muttered under his breath.

The silver haired man dodged another spell and shot a fire spell at his opponent. However Rinoa cast Reflect, just in time, sending it hurtling back at its caster, hitting him square in the chest as he readied another spell.

Rinoa wasn't tiring but the man in black was, and the several spells that he had been unable to dodge were slowing his movements. He narrowly avoided another Holy spell, which sailed harmlessly past his right shoulder. Surprisingly, it whipped past his shoulder again, heading towards Rinoa and hitting her. The man spun around and saw a boy behind stood there, holding a double bladed sword. The boy had long blonde hair tied in a pony tail and had a tail like a monkey's. Rinoa growled and cast a Demi spell at the boy before disappearing.

* * *

"Zidane!" 

The genome awakened but kept his eyes shut. He remained very still, hoping the eight year old would leave him alone.

"Zidane!"

After a pause, the eight year old girl sighed and began roughly shaking Zidane. Unable to pretend any longer he reluctantly opened his eyes. Stood in front of him was an eight year girl with a summoner's horn on her head. In the two and a half years he had known her, her violet hair had grown in length and now settled on her shoulders.

"Garnet told me, to tell you that the King of Burmecia's here," Eiko squeaked.

Zidane sighed as he rose from his chair.

"The life of a Prince Consort is so irritating…" he thought as he followed the young summoner.

He and Garnet had married not long after what Garnet referred to as 'The JENOVA incident'. She still would not mention Sephiroth; she felt he had betrayed them. Eiko didn't blame Sephiroth at all, though he had attacked her. He could be rude and grumpy but the young summoner actually seemed to miss him.

"Why are you stood staring into space?" Eiko asked, the annoyance obvious in her voice.

"You go on ahead, Eiko," Zidane replied.

She looked confused for a moment but then shrugged and skipped down the hall. Though two and a half years had passed since Cid and Hilda had adopted her, Eiko was just as unladylike as ever. She narrowly avoided knocking over Blank as she turned the corner, not looking where she was going. Shaking his head, Blank walked up towards Zidane.

"Annoying as ever…" Blank commented.

"Eiko never changes," Zidane sighed.

"Like you I guess," Black chuckled, "I'm surprised you survived being a King this long."

"'Prince Consort'," Zidane corrected.

Blank laughed, "Well if you're only a 'Prince Consort' that makes this easier."

Zidane gave Blank a puzzled look, "Makes what easier?"

"Well you know Ipsen's Castle," Blank inquired.

How could he forget? When the group had been trying to stop Kuja it was there they had found the mirrors that unlocked the gate to Terra. During the 'JENOVA Incident' it was where he and Garnet had discovered the secret of Sephiroth's dark past.

"Yeah, I know it…" Zidane replied a little sadly.

"Lately voices have been heard whispering around the castle. And the monsters are stampeding around it, just like they were a year ago…"

Stories of voices coming from the castle were not uncommon but the monsters stampeding. Could it mean Rinoa had returned?

"I know, you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking," Blank said, "As you're only a 'Prince Consort' I think you should be allowed to go and check it out."

"Why aren't the Tantalus going?" Zidane inquired.

Blank laughed as he headed back down the corridor.

"Hey!" Zidane exclaimed.

"Heh heh, you're the angel."

* * *

Rinoa sat up in bed, hugging her knees, her long dark brown hair cascading down her legs. Again her sleep had been disturbed by troubling dreams. In them she had gone insane, her worst fear as a sorceress. Squall, her Knight killed, by her own act of stupidity. The target of her own guilt had been a world unlike her own; it was like a place from a fairytale. And like in every good fairytale she; the 'evil force' had been defeated by two angels. One looked about her age; he had shoulder length blonde haired tied in a pony tail and impressive golden wings. But his appearance seemed even less human by the fact he had a tail like a monkey's. The other was an older man in black. He had long silver hair, glowing green eyes and a single black wing on his right side. The 'One Winged Angel' carried a long thin blade and his sword skills were amazing. Rinoa thought even Squall would struggle against such an opponent. 

She glanced across at the empty side of the bed. Squall was most likely training with Seifer like he usually did. Despite knowing where he was, she couldn't help feeling scared for him. Scared of what she herself might do.

* * *

"They what!" 

"They sort of…well…escaped…"

"What do you mean they escaped?"

Sephiroth would have rolled his eyes if he was still in a human form. Zack and Aerith were arguing…again. Death was seen as a peaceful release from life and pain but to Sephiroth, peace was boring. Aerith and Zack's regular arguments were his only entertainment but these had become monotonous lately.

Aerith laughed nervously, "Well when I went to speak to Zidane and the others, they found JENOVA's prison in the Lifestream…"

Sephiroth started to pay attention then.

"Yes?" Zack asked, urging her to continue.

"They borrowed some of JENOVA's power. Then when I shifted Hyne's timescale they escaped into it…"

"Who has escaped?" Sephiroth asked, knowing if JENOVA was involved, it couldn't be good.

If the pair had been in human form, they would have jumped, only just noticing Sephiroth's presence.

"Kadaj, Yazoo and Los," Zack replied.

Sephiroth laughed, "I wondered how long it would be before they'd disobey Aerith."

"Quiet," Aerith snapped, obviously too angry at herself to keep her polite demeanour.

Sephiroth found Aerith's fury to be as equally amusing as his remnant's flight.

"I think, as they're his remnants, we should make him fetch them," Zack suggested, trying to look annoyed at Sephiroth but failing miserably.

Aerith, however didn't notice, "Alright… They are manifestations of his will, he should take some responsibility for them and I suppose we can trust him in the outside world now..."

Sephiroth noticed she said it mockingly as if he were a creature in captivity that was being released into the wild. He also hated the implication that the so called 'SHM' were like his children. However, he thought finding them would break the tedium of his existence in the Lifestream.

"You owe me one," Zack whispered so Aerith couldn't hear.

Sephiroth nodded in stoic agreement as Aerith went over the 'terms of his release'.

"I shouldn't have to put the same safety measure on you again, but if you hurt any innocent people, I will."

"That was more of a hindrance last time," Sephiroth muttered, "and what do you mean 'you'? I thought the Planet put that on me?"

"Well…I'm an agent for the Planet…so it was sort of me…" Aerith laughed nervously, "Anyway, no hurting innocent people."

"Fine…"

"No telling the inhabitants of about things that will happen or may happen in the future and try not to antagonise any of them." Aerith finished, "Ready?"

Sephiroth responded with his usual stoic silence, glad to get away from the extremely annoying, slightly psychotic Cetra.

Sephiroth became surrounded by gold light and he could hear voices around him. He experienced a tugging sensation and everything around him went dark.

* * *

Seifer lunged forward, holding his gunblade high but Squall was too quick and jumped out of the way, slamming his blade into his opponents. Seifer withdrew before executing a serious of strikes all of which Squall blocked before following with some of his own. The two battlers seemed to be performing some kind of dance rather than a duel as they elegantly slashed and blocked almost in rhythm. The two lunged at each other their blades crashing together, knocking them both back. Seifer charged towards Squall and brought his blade up in a swift upwards strike but the other Gunblade was raised to meet the Hyperion and the two collided with a violent clang. Both men pushed the blade forward with all their strength to weaken their opponent. 

Suddenly a flash of fire sent Squall flying backwards. The blonde sensing victory leered at his opponent as he stalked towards him.

"Not so great now, are we Mr. Hero?" Seifer jeered.

Rinoa laughed and booed as the blonde helped her Knight to his feet.

"And I embarrassed you in front of your princess too."

Squall shook his head in an exasperated gesture, "Hardly a 'princess' more like a pain."

"Hey!" Rinoa exclaimed in the most unladylike tone possible.

Squall smirked to show his was kidding, but his rare smile faded when Quistis, arrived, a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong, Quistis?" asked Rinoa.

"Deling City's under attack. SeeD been asked to assist," Quistis replied.

Squall nodded and hurried after Quistis towards his office. Rinoa followed, wanting to help protect her home city.

* * *

Rinoa stood with Squall at the top of the Ragnarok's ramp. At first Squall had tried to stop her coming but eventually he realised he wouldn't be able to stop her. Angelo stood nervously by Rinoa's side, as if sensing something the others could not. They would be over Deling City soon and she wondered what they would find when they arrived. Apparently there were three attackers and they were young. Because they were few in number, only Squall, Rinoa, Irvine and Zell had come. There were hoping that those who defeated Ultimecia would be a good enough match for the trio. 

The Ragnarok came to a stop a short distance away from the centre of town where the attackers where. They had been shooting down planes with magic so flying right at them would be dangerous.

After disembarking, it didn't take the group long to find their targets. There were indeed three, dressed all in black and despite their youth, all had silver hair. One seemed to in his late teens and had shoulder length hair. The other two looked to be in their early twenties, one of which was burly and had short silver hair. Though all had a rather unsettling appearance, it was the third that scared Rinoa most of all. His build was more willowy and he had long hair, he his appearance was very similar to the 'One Winged Angel' from her dream. He was the first to notice the group's presence and smiled gently. It was a cold smile but was strangely beautiful, standing in stark contrast to the youngest's, childlike smirk as he stalked towards the group. From a sheath on his belt, he produced a sword like none Rinoa had seen before; it had two blades, side by side. The other two silver haired men wielded deadly looking guns which had a blade along the bottom of the barrel. They aimed their weapons at the group and the third lifted his exotic sword in an aggressive stance.

"Wanna play?" laughed the burly silver haired man.

* * *

**_Author's Notes  
Lame ending I know, but I couldn't resist…  
Rinoa is perfectly sane this time and no the comment about her being unladylike is not flaming her, I'm extremely unladylike. Its a little reference to Eiko (oops nearly spoiled there…)  
And no, calling Aerith 'slightly psychotic' isn't because I hate her. I like Aerith I just thought it would be a funny a reaction to her breaking her own perfect streak._**


	2. Jailbreak

**Chapter Two: Jailbreak**

Zidane sighed as he walked down the corridor towards his chamber. Puck was hard to deal with. After Burmecia had been brought to near normality, Puck had been crowned king. Though he still acted childishly he was a good ruler and the Burmecians liked him. However throughout the meeting, Zidane couldn't help thinking about what Blank had told him. Was it possible that Rinoa could have returned? He wanted to investigate and the old Zidane would have gone in a flash but he had responsibilities now. Telling Garnet would be a bad idea, she would try to stop him, most likely thinking Sephiroth would in some way be involved.

"What to do…" he muttered.

"'What to do', about what?" a voice squeaked startling him.

He spun around quickly and saw Eiko stood behind him, looking at him curiously.

"Nothing," he replied.

The summoner frowned, and continued to stare at him.

"Tell me!" she whined in a very childish tone.

Zidane smiled, "If I do, you promise not to tell Dagger?"

Eiko thought for moment, "Why can I not tell Dagger? It's not something dangerous is it?"

"I'm not telling you unless you promise," Zidane chuckled.

"Fine," she sighed, "What is it?"

Zidane expression darkened, "You remember Ipsen's Castle?"

"Of course I do," Eiko replied obviously feeling patronised.

"Well monsters have been stampeding around it again."

"What?" exclaimed the young summoner, "You're not thinking of going there alone are you?"

"I'm not dragging anyone else into this," he explained, "especially not Garnet. Last time something like this happened we found she was linked to JENOVA. If I take her with me something bad may happen."

"I'm coming with you!" Eiko said defiantly.

"No you're not."

"Why do you have to go alone anyway? We used to be a team…" she asked sadly.

Zidane sighed as a pair of golden wings materialised on his back, "This is why…"

Ever since he had received his wings in the fight against Rinoa, he had been able to call them at will. He had gotten very good at flying but only used them in emergencies.

"I need you to keep an eye on Garnet and to make sure she doesn't worry about me," Zidane explained.

"Alright, I guess…" Eiko sighed, admitting defeat, "But don't get hurt and especially don't get yourself killed."

Zidane gave her a smile as he continued to him room to get ready for his trip. Speaking with Eiko had helped him make up his mind.

* * *

Rinoa cast spell after spell as the other three fought the silver haired men. Zell was fighting with the burly one. On his left arm the man had a strange weapon which he constantly tried to stun Zell with; so far the blonde had managed to avoid it. Irvine was shooting at the willowy man but at the same time his opponent was firing at him. Both constantly had to dodge then shoot and neither had managed to land any hits so far. Squall was battling the youngest, their blades slamming together loudly and rapidly, their movements almost a blur. The silver haired man's style contrasted with Squall's, relying on quick twirls and flicks of his sword to wear down an opponent. Squall's on the other hand was a slower style which used the Gunblades raw power to his advantage. Rinoa could do little but watch and occasionally heal, through fear of hitting one of her friends and sending Angelo to help would only hinder her friends' attacks further.

The trio were certainly a match for the other men and fought unlike anyone Rinoa had seen before. Their appearance scared her and she hoped their silver hair and green, catlike eyes didn't have anything to do with the 'One Winged Angel' from her dream. Though there was nothing angelic about the silver haired trio, they were more like demons…

The men had been battling for a while now and the only one seeming to make any progress was Squall. His skills with his blade were superior to his opponents so the youngest silver haired man was tiring rapidly. He was fighting defensively, his movements too slow to launch an effective offence, but his grip on the blade remained strong and defiant. Sensing his comrades failing strength, the willowy man shot at Squall who only just moved out of the way. He rolled to the side but halted as he realised a blade hovered close to his throat. His opponent, breathing heavily, leered down at him, his green eyes taunting Squall.

Engines roared overhead as the owner of the sword fell back, like he had been hit by something. Looking up at the sky, Rinoa saw the Ragnarok circling the area, firing its weapons at the three men. Zell and Irvine had moved out of the way, allowing Selphie, who was piloting it, clear aim at the trio. The silver haired men were now devoting all their energy to blocking attacks from the Ragnarok but it was obvious there strength would soon run out.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a fire spell hit Rinoa, knocking her back. As she crawled to her feet another hit Zell throwing him a few feet away. Gasping, she scanned the area for her attacker. The caster was a man in his late twenties who wore very bizarre, almost alien robes. In his right hand he carried a staff and as he waved it, what seemed to be fairies gathered between the group and the silver haired men, forming a huge beast. The creature was brown in colour and seemed to have halves of a shell surrounding it. Its arms were bound to its chest and chains sprang up from the ground holding it in place. Rinoa had never seen anything so hideous, and its cries of pain were chilling.

The beast's summoner elegantly strolled around behind the beast, now out of view of the group like the silver haired men. The Ragnarok unleashed its weapons at the creature but they had little effect, if anything they only deepened its sadness. Recoiling slightly, the creature emitted an ear splitting shriek as a wave of pure power struck the Ragnarok, grounding it. It then let loose its power on the group. Rinoa hastily cast a barrier just as the attacked pounded against it. Though the spell weakened the assault it didn't stop it, eventually the wave of energy passed through the barrier and threw the group backwards. Rinoa struggled to her feet dizzily, feeling warm liquid trickling down her face. She forced her eyes to focus as the beast disappeared in a cloud of fairies but those it had been shielding were gone.

* * *

"Why is he in Hyne?" a gruff voice asked.

"I have no idea…" Aerith said panicking, "he shouldn't be."

"Obviously, the 'Silver Haired Men' weren't the only ones to escape…" the gruff voice added.

"It wasn't my fault!" Aerith protested, "He wasn't my responsibility."

"I wasn't talking about him. He's just a pawn."

"Er…Aerith, we have a problem…" Zack said slowly.

"What?"

"He's right, several souls have escaped into Hyne…" replied Zack.

Aerith looked horrified, "From the Planet dimension?"

"From the Planet, World of Balance, Hyne, Gaiaterra and Spira" Zack reeled off sadly.

"How…" Aerith breathed, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Who knows," the gruff voice said, "but you know what we must do."

"The angels…"

"And the High Summoner," Zack added.

If the owner of the gruff voice had been in human form, he would have nodded.

* * *

Ipsen's Castle was seriously scaring Zidane now. The rumours about the voices were not just rumours. Though unintelligible with the acoustics of the Castle, they seemed somehow familiar. They echoed sounding more like wind than voices and mingled with the rumbles from outside. Blank had been right about the monsters they were stampeding again. The Castle trembled as if it were about to fall down so Zidane made his way through quickly. Fortunately the tremors seemed to have scared off any of the monsters inside.

Guessing at his destination he headed for the mural room where the elemental mirrors had once hung and where he had discovered the truth of Sephiroth's questionable past. As he entered his heart sank as once again the back wall was bathed in a milky glow.

"Not again…"

Zidane stared at where the mural usually was for a long time deciding whether to touch it. Who knows what would happen, or what he would see if he did. However the question of what lay behind the light was answered for him when two figures emerged from it.

"It's good to see you again, Zidane," a female voice said as her form materialised from the light.

She was dressed all in pink and her brown hair was tied into a long plait.

"Aerith," Zidane gasped, "What are you doing here?"

"We have a favor to ask," replied a male voice as he also appeared.

He was dressed in dark trousers and a dark blue jumper. His hair was black and styled into spikes.

"You're Zack, right?" Zidane asked, recognising the man from the visions of Sephiroth's past.

The man nodded.

"What kind of favor?" the genome inquired, obviously suspicious of the pair's appearance.

Aerith sighed, "Several souls have escaped into Hyne."

"Rinoa's dimension?"

Zack laughed, "Obviously you have a better memory than Sephiroth. When Aerith sent him to Hyne he didn't seem to remember Rinoa was from there."

"You sent Sephiroth to Hyne?" Zidane asked confused.

"I…well…" Aerith began, staring at the ground, "I accidentally let Sephiroth's remnants escape, so we sent him to fetch them."

"'Remnants'?"

"He'd be able to explain it better…" Zack added.

Aerith continued, "After you defeated Rinoa I altered events in her dimension so she wouldn't go insane. But when I shifted the timescale I weakened the seal on the gate to Hyne. This allowed Sephiroth's remnants, and a few other souls, to escape into it…"

"If you altered time in Rinoa's dimension, then why hasn't it affected Gaiaterra?" Zidane asked, confused.

"Dimensions don't all follow the same timescale. In this dimension it's been a year since Rinoa's attack. In her dimension it is 4 years before it happened," Zack explained.

Zidane nodded but the logic of 'timescales' was making his head hurt, "Can you cut to the chase?"

"We need you to go to Hyne to help the other two angels, Sephiroth and Rinoa, catch the escaped souls," Aerith summarised.

"Do I have a choice?" Zidane asked nervously.

"Well the alternative is to wait for the rest of the dimensions to be destroyed by them. Then worry about it when Gaiaterra is targeted. By which time the other two angels will probably have been killed so this dimension will pretty much be doomed," Zack said sadly.

Zidane sighed, "Alright…As I don't have a choice…"

Aerith nodded sympathetically as gold light surrounded the genome. He felt as though something was pulling him from every direction, then everything went black.

* * *

"Hey, Squall!" Rinoa cried, running up to her Knight, "Are you going to the training centre?"

"I thought I saw something flash in there," he explained as he continued walking.

"Something flash?"

"Like a green light…" Squall replied.

Rinoa didn't like the sound of that. Yesterday the terrorists dubbed the 'SHM' had attacked Deling City. Then they had been saved by a strange creature like a GF but in many ways different. Its power was incredible and had even grounded the Ragnarok. Fortunately it and Selphie who had been piloting it weren't damaged too badly. But now a 'green light'?

"I'll come with you," Rinoa stated determinedly.

Squall nodded as he continued, the sorceress struggling to keep up with his long strides.

As they entered the main area of the miniature forest, Rinoa gasped.

Lying on the forest floor was a man. He was dressed in black and a thin blade the same length as his form lay next to him. Long silver hair partially covered his face and was spread on the ground. Rinoa felt as though her insides had turned to ice.

"Who is he?" Squall asked as he walked up to the figure.

Rinoa didn't reply, hoping her silence would somehow prevent the moment from being real.

When Squall was about a metre away from the silver haired man, the figure moved.

He jumped up quickly grabbing his sword, almost too fast to see. Holding the blade a mere inch away from Squall's throat he stared warily at the pair. His cat like eyes widened in surprised as he took in the pair's appearance. Green, catlike eyes confirmed Rinoa's fear. The man in front of them was the 'One Winged Angel'.

* * *

**_Author's Notes:_**

**_Oh my God Lifestream Jailbreak! Lol. 'World of Balance' is the FFVI dimension. If anyone can think of a better name for it I'd appreciate it.  
Anyone who can tell who the summoner and beast are gets a digital cookie, though it is kinda obvious. Anyone who can guess who the 'gruff voice' belongs to gets extra special sparkly digital cookies!   
Sephiroth should have asked what dimension he was being sent to… _**


	3. Assembly

**Chapter Three: Assembly  
**

Sephiroth stared at the youth in front of him. Though they were younger, Sephiroth had seen them before. It was Rinoa's Knight, Squall, whose death had caused her insanity. Sephiroth mentally kicked himself for not remembering Hyne was Rinoa's dimension. Sensing his opponent's momentary lapse in concentration, Squall jumped backwards out of Sephiroth's reach. He then brought his own blade up towards Sephiroth's but it was easily blocked. Squall obviously underestimated the One Winged Angel. Sephiroth twirled his blade round, startling his opponent and pushing him back. As the two circled each other, Sephiroth glanced at Squall's weapon. It was a sword but the hilt looked more like a gun handle. The younger man suddenly charged at the silver haired warrior, his blade turned forward. Sephiroth sidestepped but his opponent turned at the last possible moment, slamming his blade into the Masamune and nearly disarming him. The One Winged Angel then realised Squall was acting less skilled then he really was; the younger warrior knew how to deceive an opponent. Sephiroth stepped back to allow himself a moment to adjust his grip which he was only just able to do in time as Squall came at him again. The silver haired warrior then discovered what the gun like handle was for as his opponent pulled the trigger. Squall's blade struck his with force like a Behemoth had rammed into Sephiroth but the silver haired warrior refused to drop his blade, clinging onto it defiantly.

The sound of a spell being cast rang out and the next thing Sephiroth knew, the Masamune and Squall's 'Gun-Blade' went flying through the air, knocked out of their hands by a powerful fire spell.

"Stop it," cried the caster.

Sephiroth turned to find the source of the voice and saw it was a girl around the age of eighteen. She was dressed in blue and black and long dark hair. Last time he had seen her however, she had been older and had been trying to kill him.

"Rinoa?" Squall asked trying to suppress his anger.

"He didn't attack you," Rinoa sighed exasperatedly, "he was just defending himself."

"Why did you disarm him as well?" inquired Squall, looking puzzled.

"Just to be careful…"

Sephiroth then began to hear unintelligible whispers which seemed to come from his mind itself.

As he tried to ignore them, he laughed "As powerful as ever, Rinoa."

The sorceress and her Knight jumped at the sound of the angel's voice.

"How do you know my name?" Rinoa gasped.

Sephiroth replied only with stoic silence and went to walk past the pair. The voice in his head was getting annoying now and he was starting to understand some of what it was saying. It sounded very familiar.

"_Puppet…kill…Sorceress…"_

Rinoa summoned her wings, which were white instead of black like they had been in Gaiaterra, and hovered in front of Sephiroth.

"How do you know my name!" she demanded.

"…_cells…my son…"_

From behind Rinoa, two girls arrived; both around Rinoa's age. One had long blonde hair, wore spectacles and was dressed in orange. The second was Selphie; the one Zidane was linked to in Hyne. Both gasped when they saw Sephiroth.

"Rinoa?" Selphie asked nervously, eying her stern expression and wings.

"…_kill the angel and her Knight!"_

"I know nothing…" Sephiroth said stoically, the voice in his head becoming almost painful now.

He walked past Rinoa but Squall blocked his way this time, "How did you get into the Garden?"

Sephiroth didn't have time for this. Though it was a nice release from his usual boredom, he had to stop his idiot remnants.

"_Kill the angel and her Knight! You are my puppet, why do you not do as I command!"_

"Who are you?" Sephiroth mentally asked the voice in his head.

"_Your master…The one who made you what you are…"_

He wrenched his attention back to the man in front of him and noticed his 'Gun-Blade' was now back in his hand, pointed at the silver haired warrior.

"_You are my puppet! Do what I command!"_

"I am nobody's 'puppet!" Sephiroth mentally cried at the voice in his head.

The voice screamed in annoyance causing Sephiroth to fall to his knees as a splitting pain ripped through his mind. He desperately tried to remain conscience but the voice shrieked louder. Unable to take the agony any longer, he descended into darkness.

* * *

"Who is he?" Rinoa thought as she stood on the balcony of the Secret Place. She gazed out across the landscape as the Garden flew over it, her hand on her head as the breeze blew her hair.

The 'One Winged Angel' was now in the Garden's infirmary and everyone was wondering what had happened to him. He had suddenly dropped to his knees as if in pain then collapsed. Though he had not directly threatened anybody, he was under close guard.

"First the three in Deling City then the actual Silver Haired Man from my dream shows up…" Rinoa sighed.

She wondered whether to ask him when he woke up if he knew anything about her dreams. He hadn't told her how he knew her name but she was determined to not give up without an answer.

* * *

Zidane stared in amazement at the flying thing above him. It seemed to be a building, mainly white and blue in colour. It had sloping sides that met in a rounded point at the top; bands of windows circled it at various points. A yellow ring beneath it span rapidly as if it was keeping the structure in the air. As he flew over a large chasm, it hovered for moment before settling into it, fitting perfectly as that was its original location. The strange building looked alien to its surroundings of grassy plains and trees. Unsure where to he needed to go, Zidane decided to ask there. He took two steps before he sensed a blade hovering near the side of his neck.

"What are you supposed to be?" a voice said venomously from behind Zidane.

He turned slowly to be met with a man around his age. He had short blonde hair, green eyes and wore a long white coat. In his right hand was a type of blade but the handle was curved. He had only ever seen one weapon like it before.

"What do you mean 'What am I supposed to be'?" Zidane guessed the man in front of him had never seen a Genome before, but even so his statement was very rude.

The man smirked at Zidane, "Are you some kind of monkey?"

Zidane quickly jumped back, drawing his twin daggers. The man, annoyed lunged at Zidane with his blade as the genome changed his stance to a defensive position. He realised the blonde in front of him was very skilled but would let their anger get the better of them. The genome dodged his opponent's clumsy strikes, using his tail to balance himself. This continued for some time until Zidane saw the other man was tiring, his breathing heavy. He seemed to swing blindly at Zidane, forcing him to jump out of the way again. However he stopped in mid swing. Changing direction, he slammed his weapon into Zidane's. The angel only just managed to strengthen his grip in time. He then realised his opponent's breathing was steady, the blonde had tricked him. He swiped at Zidane again and again but though he was startled, Zidane soon adjusted, holding his own against his opponent's onslaught. The other man was powerful but Zidane had the speed advantage. His opponent often struggled to land a hit on Zidane but Zidane also had problems with the sheer force of the blonde's attacks. The blades collided with a violent clang and the other man pushed his blade towards Zidane with all his strength. The genome surprised him by jumping up out of the way. The man fell to ground, cursing and fired a fire spell at the angel. Zidane fell to ground with a thud and barely realised as his opponent cast a sleep spell on him.

* * *

Opening his eyes slightly, Sephiroth gazed around the room he was in. It reminded him of the medical bays when he was in SOLDIER. Everything seemed to be pale colours and very sterile. The angel's gaze stopped on two guards stood beside the exit. They hadn't noticed he was awake but he closed his eyes to be sure. He guessed they were there because of him; he certainly could've handled the situation with Rinoa better. His blood chilled as he remembered the cause for his collapse, a familiar mental voice telling him to destroy. Though he was sure he recognised it, enough time must have past since he last heard it as he couldn't remember who the 'voice' belonged to. Deciding not to dwell on it, he allowed another glance at the guards. Weighing up his options he decided, being weapon less, the easiest way to get rid of them was to use a sleep spell. He cast one as subtly as possible before rising from the bed and slipping out into the corridor. From the darkness he could tell it must be late. Using the shadows as cover he quietly made his way through what Squall had called the 'Garden'. Hearing footsteps ahead of him, Sephiroth quickly hid in the entrance of one of the side corridors. Not noticing the silver haired man's presence, Squall came into view, frowning at something.

"What have you done now, Seifer?"

"I found some kind of weird monkey hanging around outside," replied a male voice.

"Weird monkey?" Squall inquired sceptically.

Sephiroth shifted his position so he could see both figures but still kept to the shadows. Seifer was a boy around Squall's age but in appearance was his complete opposite. From what Sephiroth could see he had blonde hair and wore a white trench coat.

"It's like a human, but has a tail…"

Seifer pulled a boy his from shoulder and laid him on the floor. Moonlight from the windows above shined across the boy's form. He was shorter than the other two but seemed to be around the same age. He had long blonde hair of a more gold colour than Seifer's tied into a small ponytail. His clothes seemed foreign to Hyne but the strangest thing about him was he had a tail. Even in the dim light and though the boy had aged slightly, Sephiroth still recognised the figure. It was the Third Angel, Zidane.

Squall looked down at the third angel, an unreadable expression on his face.

"What do you think it is?" Seifer asked curiously.

"_He_ is male…" Squall corrected.

"Whatever."

"You just saw him outside and attacked him did you?" Squall asked, trying to hide his irritation.

"Hey, he attacked me!"

"But you attacked him first?" Squall said exasperatedly.

"Well…"

Squall sighed and Sephiroth didn't blame him. Seifer was obviously the type of idiot who attacked first and asked questions later. Squall knelt down next to Zidane, moving outside of Sephiroth's line of sight. A few moments later he heard Zidane gasp and jump to his feet. He stood in his typical battled stance with his twin daggers raised. However, Sephiroth noted that there was something different about his stance, it looked stronger. He watched as Zidane warily studied Seifer who had his hand wrapped around the handle of his blade. Then his gaze shifted to Squall, his eyes widening in realisation.

* * *

**_Author's Notes:  
The angels are finally in the same dimension!   
I know not a lot happens in this chapter and it's a bit shorter than the previous ones. I'm sorry…   
It was seem in this chapter that I hate Seifer but I really don't. The comment about him being an idiot is what I thought Sephiroth's perception of him would be and him randomly attacking Zidane well that is Seifer being Seifer…_**


	4. World's Collide

**_A/N: __Sorry, I know it's been a while since I updated (don't hurt me), UCAS application and History coursework got in the way… This chapter has been rewritten about four times so forgive me if I still haven't gotten it right..._**

* * *

**Chapter Four: World's Collide **

Zidane stood, shocked at the man in front of him. They seemed to be around his age, had dark hair and clear blue eyes. What shocked the genome the most however was who the man was, Squall, Rinoa's Knight.

He looked at Zidane unthreateningly, his weapon still sheathed. The blonde beside Squall however had his weapon poised, ready to strike.

"Put it away," Squall said, noticing Zidane's wary look at the other man.

"But?"

"That's an order, Seifer," Squall commanded.

Seifer obeyed and put the weapon back in its sheath.

After a pause, Zidane asked, "Where am I?" He knew he was in Hyne but where exactly he had no idea.

"Balamb Garden, a military academy," replied the dark haired man.

"Any idiot knows that," Seifer scoffed but went silent when Squall glared at him.

"Seifer said he found you outside the Garden. Do you have business here?" Squall asked.

Zidane thought the strange place he was in couldn't look anything less like a 'Garden' and he wasn't sure how to answer, but in case they could help opted to answer truthfully.

"I'm looking for someone…" Zidane replied, "A man with silver hair and green eyes, usually dresses in black…and a girl named Rinoa."

The two men looked at each other with dark expressions on their faces.

"Some men like that attacked Deling City yesterday," Seifer replied, "and how do you know Rinoa?"

Zidane shifted nervously, "I've heard of Rinoa but I haven't actually met her. I was just told I needed her help."

He mentally kicked himself, knowing his explanation sounded suspicious and at his own stupidity for revealing such information so easily.

Squall looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Seifer, go wake up the others and tell them to meet me in the headmaster's office."

The blonde left quickly, knowing better than to argue, leaving the genome and Knight following at a slower pace.

"Who told you to find Rinoa?" Squall inquired.

"You wouldn't believe me," he replied unable to quickly think of a plausible answer.

"You aren't from this time, are you?" the dark haired man asked quietly.

"I come from another dimension," said Zidane warily, "But how did you know that?"

Squall paused before answering, "You didn't know about the attack on Deling City, you didn't know about Balamb Garden, you have a tail…"

"I guess I do kinda stand out," Zidane commented swinging his tail nervously. Feeling he could trust Squall he added, "The other person I'm looking for is from another dimension as well."

"I guess that's why the men who attacked Deling City looked so strange…My friends and I fought some men like the one you described, we're looking for them as well." the Knight said.

"My, my, my, aren't the third angel and the Knight getting on so well," laughed a sarcastic female voice.

The two men looked around them, trying to locate the owner of the voice but she jumped down in front of the pair. Her hair was a vivid red and slightly spiky bangs hung down her face framing her equally red eyes. She was dressed in a grey and red skin tight outfit with a length of scarlet fur, starting at her waist, dragging on the floor behind her. The trim of her attire seemed to glow blue, like her eyes which glowed red with their own cruel fire.

"It's such a pity I have to kill you when you've only just met," she giggled in a deep, rich accent.

"Who are you?" Zidane asked obnoxiously as he saw Squall draw his weapon.

"Ah, how rude of me," replied the woman with false joviality, "I am Rosso, Rosso the Crimson."

From a clip on the back of her belt she produced what looked like a metal fan until two lethal looking red blades appeared on either side of it. Zidane felt vulnerable, his weapons were noticeably missing; no doubt Seifer had disarmed him.

The woman smirked as she charged towards the genome, almost seeming to leave the ground. Squall stepped forward to defend Zidane but a streak of black and silver sped past them, stopping between the woman and the two warriors.

At the sudden appearance of the figure, Squall gasped as if recognising him. The woman glared at the man, her annoyance obvious. His hair hung long down his back in a shower of silver, the moonlight reflecting on it making it look almost white. The silver contrasted with the long black coat he wore but was equal to the colour of his blade. Zidane couldn't see the man's face or his blade in its entirety but he guessed it must be about seven feet long.

"I didn't think I'd see you here," Rosso commented bitterly, "You always seem to show up where you aren't wanted."

The red head gave the figure a look of pure venom before lunging at him, her weapon raised. He blocked it lazily then swung at the woman with considerable skill. Rosso barely avoided his attack before sending a blade of crimson light flying through the air towards her opponent. He sidestepped to avoid it but it seemed to follow him and struck him squarely in the chest. The genome noticed the man grunted at the impact but it hardly seemed to hurt him at all. In fact he just smirked at the red head and cast a fire spell at her. She shrieked as the flames hit but gradually made her way towards the silver haired warrior. As the fire subsided, she charged at her opponent again and again, every time he easily blocked or dodged them. Rosso's anger seemed to have taken over now and she attacked in a frenzy. Her offensive was now faster but still the man had no trouble avoiding her. After a while of the same pattern, Rosso paused, her breathing heavy. The two battlers circled each other allowing Zidane a glimpse of the silver haired man's face. He had catlike green eyes which shone through the darkness. The red headed woman sent another of her crimson blade attacks at the black clad warrior. However it was sent flying back at its caster when he deflected it with his sword. The light split into shards and imbedded themselves into the body of the red head causing her to drop to her knees in pain.

"I see the stories about you were accurate angel," Rosso gasped, "but don't think you have defeated me for good."

Zidane was amazed as she escaped with inhuman speed despite her injuries. Squall went to follow her but the silver haired man stopped him.

"Leave her; you won't catch up with her."

He sheathed his sword and turned towards the Knight and the genome.

Zidane glared at the older man, "Where the hell have you been?"

* * *

"So you two are from two different dimensions," Seifer asked sarcastically, obviously not convinced. 

"Yeah, we are," the boy with the monkey tail replied, annoyed at the other blonde.

He had said his name was 'Zidane' and that the silver haired man was called 'Sephiroth'. The sight of the pair scared Rinoa; she had seen them in her dreams and it was if they awakened memories which had been lost in time.

"They're crazy," Zell commented, raising his eyebrows.

From her mind, Rinoa heard Shiva sigh, _"Some people are too cynical for their own good…"_

"Their story is a little far-fetched though, I have to admit…" the young sorceress replied to the Guardian Force.

"If you're really from another world then why did you come here?" Squall asked, actually seeming to believe them.

It was the silver haired man who replied, "I am looking for someone," he said bluntly.

Throughout the 'genomes' explanation, Sephiroth had largely remained silent. This and his position, leant against the wall of the headmaster's office had a strange likeness to Squall.

Zidane then added, "I was told to help Rinoa and him find some souls who've escaped from the Cycle of Souls."

"Cycle of Souls?" Quistis inquired, seeming to doubt their explanation as well.

"It connects all the dimensions, it's where the dead reside. In my world we call it the Lifestream," the silver haired warrior explained.

"Look, I know it seems a little strange and you probably think we're crazy but it's the truth," sighed Zidane.

"Not as strange as you might think," Irvine chuckled.

Sephiroth actually seemed interested then and looked at the sharp shooter.

"You've had a similar experience?" he inquired, his voice and expression not betraying the curiosity the sorceress could sense from him.

"We travelled through time a year ago," Selphie replied excitedly.

"It's a long story…" Squall sighed.

Rinoa found this strange, how could not know about the defeat of Ultimecia. Either they were very good actors or they were in fact telling the truth.

"_I never doubted they were," _Shiva sighed, _"When Sephiroth turned in up Zidane's dimension I had to explain then."_

"What! You can travel to other dimensions too?" Rinoa exclaimed.

It took her about three seconds to notice everyone was staring at her. She then realised she had said that out loud.

"Hehe, talking to my GF," she giggled nervously.

Quistis shook her head, exasperatedly, "What did you mean? Who can 'travel to other dimensions too'?"

"Shiva," Squall replied for her, "Bahamut and Ifrit say they can as well."

Rinoa felt a GF un-junctioning, before Shiva appeared in front of them instantly making the room colder. She looked across at the two 'dimensions travellers'.

"_Why do I always have to make explanations for you?" _she sighed exasperatedly, glaring at Sephiroth who merely glared back.

* * *

Yazoo sat on the hill, listening to his youngest brother down below. Kadaj had been in a foul mood since they had left 'Deling City' and was currently killing anything and everything in sight. It was dark so all Yazoo could actually see of his brother was his glowing green eyes and the occasional flash of the Souba as it cut through the air. 

From behind him, Yazoo heard the familiar footsteps of his eldest brother. Loz sighed as he sat down beside Yazoo, shaking his head at Kadaj's unnecessary killing spree.

"Maybe you should calm down Kadaj?" Loz shouted across to the youngest of the trio.

Breaking from his rage, Kadaj stormed up the hill towards them, the moonlight reflecting on his silver hair. It almost looked like a halo but he was far from angelic. His green eyes showed his pure feral rage.

"I'm not letting that freak of a summoner rescue us again!"

Yazoo sighed, Kadaj was referring to the strange man they met in Deling City who, like them, seemed to be from a different dimension entirely. He had claimed to be a summoner and was the one who told them to find their 'Mother' they needed to head east. The youngest didn't like anyone coming to his rescue unless it was one of his older brothers.

"He did tell us which way to go to find mother though…"

"We would have found her ourselves anyway," Kadaj retorted indignantly before angrily slumping onto the ground. He leant back, looking at the stars, finally calming down.

"Do you really think we'll find her if we head keep heading east, though?" Kadaj thought aloud.

"Sure we will," Loz replied hopefully, "and even if that summoner guy was lying, I'm sure she'll find us."

Yazoo sighed, internally. Kadaj and Loz were excited about meeting 'Mother' but the middle brother wasn't so sure it was a good idea. He remembered what had happened when Kadaj had joined with JENOVA in their own dimension. She had chosen Sephiroth over Kadaj despite his loyalty being stronger than that of the former SOLDIER. After that Yazoo had begun to wonder if their 'Mother' really cared about them. Loz and Kadaj both refused to talk about that event and seemed to block out any idea that JENOVA was anything less than maternal. Yazoo was more cynical and wondered whether JENOVA actually saw them as her 'sons' or merely as a means to an end. He would never share these thoughts with his brothers however. They were his only family and who was he to take away their dream of a parental figure simply because he wondered if said dream could ever be real.

* * *

"_Certain summons exist in more than one dimension. Myself, Bahamut and Ifrit exist in ten different dimensions, including the ones Sephiroth and Zidane are from."_

Quistis turned to the genome and the 'One Winged Angel', "How did you get here in the first place?"

"Aerith," the two replied in unison.

Shiva began laughing uncontrollably, producing confused looks from the Orphanage gang and her summoner.

"Who or what is 'Aerith'?" Zell asked, like the others wondering what could have caused such a reaction from the Ice Queen.

"A type of human from my dimension called a Cetra. She's dead but her conscious is still intact," Sephiroth replied, obviously becoming annoyed at the antics of the ice GF. However there also seemed to be a trace of guilt in his expression as well. Most people wouldn't have noticed but Rinoa was a sorceress.

"How the heck can she send people between dimensions?" Zell asked, amazed.

"Cetra aren't ordinary humans," Sephiroth replied bluntly.

"What's so funny?" Seifer asked, losing patience with Shiva who was still laughing.

"_I'm sorry. Inside joke," _the GF gasped, glancing across at the silver haired warrior before retuning to her summoner.

Irvine made a gesture for 'crazy' causing Shiva to do the mental equivalent of sticking her nose in the air.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rinoa noticed Squall break from his reverie, "You said you were looking for someone, Sephiroth. They wouldn't look similar to you would they?" he inquired.

"Why do you ask?"

"Three youths attacked Deling City the other day," Rinoa explained, "They had silver hair, green glowing eyes and wore black, like you."

"…That would be them."

* * *

**_A/N:  
Hope it was okay…_**   
**_Yay! Yazooness! I chose to do it from his viewpoint because I think he's the intelligent SHM and the once most likely to question JENOVA because of it. If anyone disagrees feel free to flame me.   
I do not hate Kadaj. I find his violent tendencies so incredibly cute, (I'm odd).   
Rosso! Cooloest video game accent ever (Russian, lol). Sorry for anyone not familiar with Dirge of Cerberus but you won't need to have played it to understand the story.   
Shiva saying about always having to explain for Sephy is a reference to the original Angelic Intervention story, sorry if it confused anyone_**

**_   
Thank you to my loyal reviewers Leontillybalambgirl and Zellycat _**


	5. Traitor, Monkey, Sorceress

**_A/N: __Special mention to my nice reviewers, Leontillybalambgirl, Zellycat and Setra Kakan, you guys rock!_**

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Traitor, the Monkey & the Sorceress**

Rinoa once again dreamt of the One Winged Angel. She stood on a hill gazing at the scene below her, a strange cloaked creature, half human, half dog that looked suspiciously like Angelo stood beside her. The skyline was dominated by a towering castle with a huge sword like spire at its centre, resting in a medieval town. Though it was dark, one couldn't fail to notice the hoards of monsters pouring into its walls. Amidst this chaos, the silver haired warrior lazily cut a path through monsters several times larger than him and grounded flying creatures with his thunder spells.

Though the monsters were not difficult foes for the angel, he soon seemed to tire of the destruction. He raised his right hand and pointed it into the sky. From it came forth a red pulse which spread to all the monsters. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen until the Red Dragons suddenly turned on the others. They began tearing and clawing at their once allies and knocking down the flying monsters with their fire magic. When the monsters around them were defeated they would then attack the other Red Dragons and then themselves. It scared Rinoa how someone could have such an effect on the sanity of any creature, even monsters. The angel smiled; an unreadable smile and continued heading into the town. She feared for the safety of the settlement but could do nothing to stop him.

* * *

A few wisps of cloud sailed across the pink sky and the only thing that stirred around the two figures was a light breeze. The One Winged angel and the Third angel were currently travelling across the plains of 'Galbadia', heading south east from Deling City. Squall had told them that his idiot remnants had been seen leaving the city and were heading in that direction. Apparently 'SeeD' didn't have time to chase them across the continent but pursuing them was Sephiroth's reason for being in Hyne. He and Zidane had been dropped off by the 'Garden', which strangely could fly, whilst it headed back to its original position in 'Balamb'. With them both being angels, Sephiroth had suggested they fly but Zidane didn't like to use his wings unless absolutely necessary. This surprised the silver haired warrior. Zidane could be quite immature and he would have thought the genome would want to fly at any possible opportunity. Perhaps the Third angel had grown up.

Sephiroth noticed Zidane glance across at him every few minutes or so, as if wanting to ask him something but trying to find the courage to do it.

"What?"

"…Why did you force me to kill you?"

Sephiroth sighed, knowing that subject would come up eventually; Zidane was referring to the conclusion of the silver haired warrior's trip to Gaiaterra, the genome's dimension. Terrible things could have happen if the One Winged Angel remained there so he had to be killed after they finally defeated Rinoa. Because of his JENOVA cells, only the sword technique Omnislash could kill him and at the time only Zidane was capable of it.

"I'm sure you know the answer to that?" Sephiroth replied.

The genome shook his head, "I don't understand why you did it though? Didn't you _want_ to live?"

Sephiroth stopped, "There is a difference between wanting to live and being able to... If I had remained on Gaiaterra, your world would have suffered the consequences. Is that what you wanted?"

"Of course not…" Zidane faltered, "Hey…Wait…You actually did want to live?"

Sephiroth was getting irritated now but he knew if he didn't answer, the genome would never shut up, "Of course I didn't want to die. Every creature has a survival instinct but the intelligent ones know sometimes life has to be sacrificed…"

Zidane considered his words then grinned, causing Sephiroth to become uneasy.

"Why are you smiling?"

"You really aren't evil, are you?" the genome said cheerily.

The older man rolled his eyes.

"I knew it!" Zidane laughed.

Sephiroth began walking again; exasperated that Zidane didn't seem to have grown up much at all, "Considering your defeat of Kuja and then Rinoa, I would have thought you'd be a little more mature by now."

Sephiroth's mood darkened when 'the voice' started to speak to him again.

"_Why are you letting the genome think you're good? Your actions in your own dimension should prove you aren't!"_

"I have to be mature at home, it gets boring," Zidane chuckled.

"Well you did fall in love with a Queen…" the silver haired warrior replied trying to ignore the voice.

"_Don't you remember Nibelheim?"_

"It isn't that, it's because I'm a Prince Consort now so I'm expected to help her with 'royal matters'," Zidane sighed, "Like I know anything about politics and running a country…"

Sephiroth looked amused, "I can't really picture you as royalty."

Zidane smiled but faltered as high pitched roar filled the sky. He spun around quickly, looking up to the sky and gasped. Sephiroth observed the source more calmly than his companion. It came from a strange looking grey dragon. The creature's face was covered in many horns and it was difficult to tell whether it was its face or a mask. Spiky wings, bigger than its body, held it in the air as it tried to get away from its pursuer. It was being chased by a large red airship which looked itself a lot like a dragon. The airship shot at it with its weapons but the creature was too fast and dodged the red dragon's attacks easily.

"What is that?" Zidane asked, unable to look away as its huge shadow passed over them.

"Bahamut SIN…"

"That's Bahamut!"

Sephiroth summoned his black angelic wing, and flew up towards the beast.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Zidane exclaimed as he summoned his gold wings and flew up to join the One Winged Angel.

Zidane thought Sephiroth was crazy as the silver haired warrior flew right in front of Bahamut's face. The beast growled in annoyance before unleashing its Mega Flare attack on the silver haired warrior. Sephiroth flew up out range forcing the dragon to fly lower.

Zidane soared towards its head and tried to plunge his twin daggers into the dragon's skull. However it spun surprisingly quickly and Zidane had to dive when its tail nearly grounded him.

Sephiroth flew towards Bahamut's head again, sword raised. He struck the horned area around its face but this only served to anger the beast. Whilst it was distracted, Zidane flew up underneath it and cut open a long gash along it left rear leg. It howled and in pain and swung its tail round again.

This time it connected, leaving Zidane reeling and plummeting to the ground. He desperately tried to fly back up but the blow had left him dizzy and he couldn't seem to get his wings to catch an air current.

Just before he lost hope, a wind spell engulfed him, enabling him to right himself and shoot up towards the dragon. He glanced across at Sephiroth and saw he was still pounding at the dragon's head; he hadn't cast the spell. Zidane looked around, confused until he saw another angel a few feet above him, an angel dressed in blue, her dark hair being blown about by the wind,

"Rinoa?"

"Are you okay?"

The genome nodded before they flew up to help the One Winged Angel. Rinoa flew around the left side of Bahamut, readying a thunder spell as she went. Swooping down underneath it, she realised the spell at its exposed belly. The dragon roared in pain, dropping a little lower as it turned to face the sorceress. Whilst its attention was drawn to Rinoa, Zidane flew round to its right side and plunged his daggers just above its rear leg.

The head now out of his reach, Sephiroth hurtled towards the beast's tail. With a deft swing of the Masamune the tail fell towards the ground, its owner falling with it. Bahamut desperately tried to get back into the air, but without a tail to balance it, the pitiful creature plummeted to earth, crying in pain.

All three angels shot towards the ground after their quarry, Sephiroth and Rinoa shooting spells at the helpless creature as they descended. The Ragnarok started to land as well but the winged beings reached the ground first. Landing close to the beast, the One Winged Angel and the sorceress rained thunder spells down on the dragon whilst Zidane tore after it with his weapons, finding it a challenge to catch the creature now it used its legs instead. It batted Zidane with its wings as it spun around, choosing Rinoa as its next target. The genome was knocked backwards and had to watch in horror as it charged at the sorceress. As it neared her, however it was met with a seven foot sword through its neck. Sephiroth withdrew the Masamune sharply, causing the dragon to step back in pain and collapse onto the ground.

Zidane suddenly began to glow pink. Smiling he closed his eyes in concentration before several beams of pink light shot from him and hit Bahamut. Then a huge flame appeared from behind the beast and swept over it, finally defeating the King of Dragons.

* * *

Kadaj growled in annoyance as his summon creature was defeated by the angels.

The three brothers were currently on a cliff not far from 'the traitor' and 'the monkey' as the youngest called them, the sorceress was yet to receive a nickname. Yazoo and Loz were sat on the edge of the cliff, their legs dangling over whilst Kadaj paced back and form behind them in irritation.

"I can't believe that monkey defeated the King of Dragons!"

"What was that attack anyway?" Loz inquired.

Yazoo had been wondering that as well. The Third Angel had unleashed a huge amount of energy on the summon; it almost seemed like a Limit Break.

"Who knows?" Kadaj replied, disinterested, "Or cares?"

"Its called 'Trance'," came an ethereal voice from behind them.

The SHM turned around sharply, Loz nearly falling from the cliff, and were met with a very strange looking man around the eldest two's age. His hair, black and untidy was held back by a white bandage and others went across his forehead and covered his mouth. He wore a dark grey body suit with glowing blue trim and belts wrapped around his arms, legs and waist. The sleeves of the outfit bound his hands to his shoulders like he was wearing a straight jacket in a chilling likeness to the creature the summoner in Deling City had called.

"Who are you?" Kadaj asked obnoxiously.

"How rude of me…" the figure said smiling, sending a chill down Yazoo's spine, "I am Nero the Sable…"

"A Tsviet?" Yazoo inquired as he stood up.

Nero nodded.

"What's a Tsviet doing here?" Kadaj asked in a more genial tone this time.

"We were called to aid your Mother."

Yazoo heart sunk at those words. He had hoped that they wouldn't be able to find JENOVA or at least not anytime soon.

"Did Mother send you?" Loz asked; a childlike hope evident in his expression.

The Tsviet smiled his chilling smile again, "Yes. She sent me to find her lost children," as he spoke he motioned behind him and a portal filled with shadows appeared, "Come with me, I will take you to her…"

Loz and Kadaj stepped forward without hesitation but Yazoo paused for a moment. He was suspicious of Nero and JENOVA. He didn't know if he could trust the Tsviet and wasn't sure if he wanted to encounter his 'Mother'. Yazoo feared that she may again ask one of them to join with her. If that was the case he would have to choose between keeping his brothers safe or them not hating him.

"Aren't you coming Yazoo?"

Broken from his reverie, he looked up to see his two brothers and Nero staring at him. Kadaj and Loz were merely confused but Nero looked at him with suspicion. Deciding he needed to protect his brothers, he walked up to them.

The youngest and eldest entered, leaving just Nero and Yazoo outside the shadows. Nero glanced at the silver haired man, obviously not trusting him before motioning for the middle brother to enter. Taking a deep breath internally, he stepped into the darkness, condemning himself to whatever fate lay ahead.

* * *

**_A/N:  
Sorry it's a bit shorter this time, it just seemed logical stopping point.   
Laughs insanely at Sephiroth and Zidane being friends. That's the reason I decided to do a sequel.   
Poor Bahamut…Sorry Bahamut fans O.O   
Digital cookie to whoever knows what Trance Zidane did (Sorry to my non FFIX playing readers)   
Nero is from Dirge of Cerberus and so are Tsviets, don't worry about not knowing what they are, it isn't vital to the plot.   
Another dose of Yazooness!   
Ooh, weird voice again. I think you can tell who it is though O.O   
Chapters may become longer after this one, of course then it will take a little longer to update. Let me know what you think. _**


	6. Preparing for the Hunt

**_A/N: __I apologise for any inaccuracies there may be in the first part…_**

* * *

** Chapter Six: Preparing for the Hunt**

Terra glared at the man in front of her, the harsh wind blowing her pale green hair. He was dressed in garish brightly coloured robes and his green cloak billowed out behind him. His face was painted white and strange red markings surrounded his eyes. The man bore a strange likeness to a clown and an evil one at that.

Kefka looked at the half esper nervously before laughing, a maniacal laugh that made the hairs on the back of Terra's neck stand on end. She took a step forward, readying a spell. As the energy and rage of a fire spell burned in her hand she thought back to how she had ended up in her current situation.

Terra had been visited by a strange girl dressed in pink, her brown hair tied with a pink ribbon. The girl had introduced herself as 'Aerith' and apparently was not of Terra's world. Although her explanation had been hurried, the half esper had gathered that somehow Kefka had been freed from his prison of death and was running loose like the animal he was in an alternate dimension known as 'Hyne'. At first she didn't want the responsibility, now being only a human again, but the pink clad girl had told her that the 'World of Balance' could be threatened as well. Still the half esper had refused but Aerith offered her an aid to help her beat her former captor, the temporary return of her magic and esper transformation. The brunette seemed troubled that she had to ask this of Terra but the green haired girl knew that Aerith wouldn't give up until she agreed. So she had and here she was, staring at Kefka once again ready to send to his grave. She had pursued him across 'Hyne' for three days already, keeping away from cities; she didn't want any of the dimensions inhabitants to know where they were from or to get hurt. Every time she had got close to Kefka, he had found a way to escape but this time was different. Kefka seemed unable to. They were in a mountainous region so the various rock formations impeded him but whenever he tried to run through any gaps, a strange green barrier stopped him. Terra wasn't going to complain though; she was tired of chasing the clown and wanted to finish it so she could go home.

The fire in her hand reached its peak so she released it, sending it hurtling at Kefka. Her opponent obviously hadn't realised that her powers were as strong as ever. Despite his predicament he kept up his arrogant façade and allowed the spell to hit him thinking it would be less painful than it actually was. As it struck, he howled in pain, his face becoming nervous again.

The clown jumped up onto a large boulder as another fire spell headed for him. It flew past him as he cast a spell of his own. Stars surrounded his opponent dazing her. She shook her head to clear it but the world span; he had cast confusion on her. In response she rained thunderbolts down on Kefka but scored few hits on him, her accuracy decreased by his spell. Seeing his chance, the clown gestured as grey bubbles engulfed the green haired mage. It cleared her head but it sapped a large portion of her strength and knocked her to the ground. Gasping as she got to her feet, she closed her eyes concentrating on Aerith's second gift. Her body began glowing with a pink light; she felt raw power surging through her as she allowed her other form to emerge. A flash of light filled the area blinding the clown.

As he opened his eyes Terra stood in front of him looking very different. Her whole body was pink and her clothes had disappeared but she still seemed modest. Long shiny pink hair hung down her back longer than before and more unruly.

Kefka looked even more nervous before surrounding Terra in red glowing eyes. She leaped out of their path, almost gliding. The half esper was surrounded in a white aura before shiny white orbs flew at the clown, striking him again and again. Dodging the last few he began to chant, raining orange beams of light over the entire area so that Terra had difficulty dodging the onslaught. They struck her several times before it eventually subsided. Wounded and breathing heavily she cast Pearl on Kefka, all of the orbs striking him with him still recovering from his spell. Forcing her body forward, Terra flew towards her opponent who looked as bad as she did. However Kefka cast his devastating attack once again despite his weakened state. The rays forced the half esper to the ground, lacking the strength to make herself airborne again. Panic was beginning to set in on both sides now. Both parties were wounded and tired but Terra knew she had to finish the battle quickly. Coughing as she rolled over, she pulled herself to her knees, know kneeling in mud due to the rain. Her pale green hair, hung limp down her back and strands stuck to her pale face. She thought of her home and how she doubted she would ever see it again but at least she knew it would be safe. Doing one of the hardest things in her life she concentrated all her energy on one final attack. The clown was standing, barely but fell to his knees in horror as he realised what Terra was about to do. A blue dome appeared around him and expanded to cover the huge area, leaving destruction in is wake. White stars seemed to be embedded in its translucent surface giving it a deceptive beauty as the rocks in the area turned to dust by its mere touch. As the magic subsided Terra looked up blearily. Kefka was lying quite obviously dead in the mud a few feet away from her, a layer of dust covering him and the surrounding area.

Gasping from pain and the dust, the half esper now in her human form, rolled onto her back with difficulty, wanting the last thing she ever saw to be the sky. However someone appeared in her field of vision. They leant over the mage allowing her a blurry look at their face. Her eyes wouldn't focus but she could tell they were wearing a grey hood which partially covered sapphire eyes and a few strands of pale silver hair fell over their otherwise covered face. As she blacked out, she felt herself being lifted from the mud.

* * *

Rain pelted the Ragnarok, the airship unaffected by the storm. The so called 'Orphanage Gang' and the three angels were all gathered inside the enormous ship flying to a city called 'Esthar'. Apparently the group from Hyne had been heading there when they encountered Bahamut. They had received reports that Rosso had been seen there and had attacked the town's officials. 

Sephiroth looked outside the window at the ominous weather. The storm wasn't natural; it had appeared too quickly for it to be normal. He glanced back inside and noticed Selphie had been doing the same thing, except she had been breathing on the window and drawing smiley faces in the mist. The silver haired warrior shook his head at her immaturity and was surprised that Zidane wasn't doing the same thing, he being linked to her and all. Instead the genome was sat across from Sephiroth a thoughtful look on his face.

"Sephiroth…?" Zidane asked tentatively.

"Yes?"

The genome paused again as if wondering how to ask a particular question, "What…exactly are the SHM? Aerith said they were your 'remnants'."

Sephiroth made sure no one else was listening before he answered, it would lead to difficult questions if the other's heard. They had no idea what he had done in his own dimension. "After Cloud killed me the second time…My will and spirit reacted with the JENOVA cells and took on physical form."

Zidane's expression dropped slightly, "That's it? I was expecting something more long, grand and complicated."

Sephiroth couldn't help but allow a half smile at his friend's well travelled nature.

"Do your remnants have names?" the genome asked curiously.

"Why do you want to know?" the silver haired man asked exasperatedly.

"Just curious…"

"Yes they do have names," the one winged angel replied, knowing Zidane wouldn't leave him alone unless he gave him an answer, "Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz."

"Strange names….Nearly as strange as 'Sephiroth'"

"Ha Ha," Sephiroth said sarcastically.

"_Strange that the genome is interested in your remnants."_

Sephiroth growled internally as the voice started to bother him again.

"_I suppose he would sympathise with those weaklings. They were both created from the will of another mortal creature after all." _

The One Winged angel forced himself to concentrate on anything other than the voice in his mind and was surprised that he hadn't noticed Zidane go over to join in with Selphie's childish activity. He had obviously noticed the older man did not want to talk about the so called 'SHM'. Moving his gaze away from the two linked souls he looked across at Irvine and Quistis who were playing some kind of card game.

"_Why do you try and ignore me?" _the voice asked in a bored tone_, "You know you can't silence me and you can't shut me out forever."_

"I can try," he replied to the voice as he rose from his seat.

He decided to go for a walk to try and distract himself. If the voice was who he thought it was; listening to it would not be a good idea…

* * *

Zidane spun his daggers round just in time to block Sephiroth's huge sword. The silver haired man swung his sword round to his opponents exposed left side allowing the blonde little time to jump out of the way. He succeeded but the sword still nicked him arm, causing an expletive to come from the mouth of the monkey tailed boy. His opponent swung his sword again, Zidane ducking underneath it before brining his dagger up sharply, again to be blocked by the silver haired man. The blonde was pushed back slightly, but struck again forcing Sephiroth to continuously adjust his grip. 

Rinoa watched in amazement at the two battlers. They were as good as they had been in her dreams, Zidane maybe even better. Though the pair were friends, albeit a strange pair the sorceress could see the sparring session was troubling Zidane. Why she had no idea. She had forced herself to watch them spar, desperately trying to rid herself of her fear of them. It had lessened since she first saw them but hadn't disappeared entirely. They seemed nice enough people, though there was something dark and foreboding about the Silver haired man. .

Sephiroth brought his weapon down heavily on Zidane's nearly throwing the blonde to the ground but he managed to hold his ground and his daggers. He lunged at his opponent causing the One Winged Angel to dodge swiftly, his silver hair trailing behind him.

Zidane had told the group about his journey which bared similarities to their own. However Sephiroth had said nothing of his past and neither he nor Zidane had explained how they met in the first place. What Rinoa found strange was Squall seemed to deterring anyone who tried to force information out of the pair.

Shaking out of her reverie she continued to watch the two men in awe and in fear. They were almost complete opposites, their personalities, their, weapons, their attire, their hair. Like two opposing angels which ironically they were. Though the two still scared her, Sephiroth in particular, she hadn't had any dreams about them lately. Instead her sleep had been haunted by herself, gone insane, her biggest fear as a sorceress. She had attacked the two men in front of her and a kingdom, plaguing it with monsters. The dreams didn't seem to follow chronologically; they just seemed to be random events far in the future.

Forcing herself not to think about them she continued to watch Sephiroth and Zidane. The genome was hanging from a pipe with his tail now, whilst the older man was threatening to cut it off. The genome grinned before jumping to the opposite side of the corridor they were in, attempting to latch onto another pipe. However this time, the silver haired warrior used his sword to block the monkey tailed boy. He guarded in midair with his dagger before landing on the ground in front of his opponent. Sephiroth pivoted, bringing his sword round sharply, disarming Zidane and knocking the blonde to the floor.

"I getting kind of tired of losing now…" Zidane whined as he lay on his back, "Is this payback or something?"

Rinoa could have sworn Sephiroth nearly smiled as he helped his opponent to his feet yet again, "Yes."

"Okay…I get it… You're better than me, never make you angry. Let's just leave it at that."

Though Zidane seemed to have improved it didn't stop him being beaten by the older and more skilled man eight times in a row.

Rinoa smiled, "You should try facing Squall, Sephiroth. He's the best in the world," she said proudly.

The One Winged Angel merely looked bored, as usual though, "I will have to test that theory sometime. Zidane is hardly a challenge."

"Hey!" the Zidane moaned mockingly, "Haven't you hurt my pride enough?"

A door slid open on the side of the corridor and Quistis stepped in, "We're landing soon."

"Okay," Rinoa replied.

Quistis glanced across at Zidane who was sheathing his daggers irritated, "How many times has he been beaten?" the blonde asked the sorceress.

"Eight."

"Ouch," Quistis laughed.

"Why is everyone picking on me!" whined the genome.

"Yeah, I guess that's Sephiroth's job," the blonde female chuckled as the silver haired man stalked past her.

Zidane grinned, "Just called him 'Sephy', he soon stops…Well after he threatens you with impalement."

Rinoa found it strange that 'Sephy' hadn't done that to Zidane already. She would have thought that the silver haired angel would have just found genome incredibly annoying rather than being friends with him. Then again, Quistis had found her incredibly annoying at first but they were now friends.

The sorceress felt the familiar sensation of the Ragnarok landing so the three headed to the ramp. The rest of the group, except Zell who was guarding the airship, were already gathered at the bottom of the ramp near the entrance to the city. Sephiroth was unimpressed but Zidane was speechless. His eyes were wide in awe as he gazed at the giant city.

"It's huge…" he breathed.

"Not as big as Midgar," Sephiroth commented.

Looking away from the other two angels; Rinoa glanced across the area as she made her way down the ramp. She was sure for a moment she saw a cloaked figure lurking in the shadows. But when she looked again, they were gone. None of the others seemed to have noticed it so the sorceress didn't say anything, no use in worrying everyone over nothing. At least she hoped it was nothing.

"President Laguna has ordered the civilians to remain in their homes and the city officials will be guarding the possible exits," Squall announced over the roar of the storm. Even though Rinoa's Knight hated being a leader, he was very good at it.

"Our mission is to go in and locate Rosso and any accomplices she may have. The Estharian government wants them alive so they can be questioned, but they have given us permission to use force if necessary."

Quistis continued, "We're going to split into groups and scout the city. They will be myself and Seifer, Irvine and Selphie, Rinoa and Squall and Zidane and Sephiroth. We'll meet back here at dawn, return here if anyone is injured."

The gang got into their groups and began to enter the city. Rinoa over heard that Zidane and Sephiroth saying they were going to split up, due to Sephiroth's insistence on working alone. She didn't think it was a good idea but both were more than capable warriors and Squall didn't really have control over them, they weren't SeeD.

As she and her Knight entered the city, she was sure she saw the cloaked figure again, running past the end of an alley. They were being watched.

* * *

The High Summoner watched the blonde haired blitzball player as he performed another Jecht Shot for the Aurochs. A year had passed since he had come back to her and Spira was finally at peace. 

Beside her, her Al Bhed cousin whistled and cheered and pretended to flirt with her fellow guardian. The High Summoner's other female guardian shook her head exasperatedly at the two blonde's actions whilst she bounced a baby boy on her knee.

"Heads up!" the mage's husband exclaimed as a spherical objected headed in the High summoner's direction, narrowly missing her.

The red head grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that, ya."

"It's alright," she replied laughing.

Noticing something was wrong, she abruptly stopped. She glanced around her and was shocked to see time had frozen. All the people around her didn't move, blink or breathe. The blitzball the Aurochs were used for practice hung in midair as if being held there by an invisible force.

"What?" the High Summoner asked as she got to her feet.

"Hello High Summoner," came a soft female voice from behind her.

She span around as was met by a girl dressed all in pink, her hair in a ribbon, hanging long down her back in a plait.

"Have you done this?" she asked.

The girl shook her head, "No, the Planet did."

"The planet?"

A gruffer voice replied this time, "She means the guardian of the Farplane, the spirits that embodies the souls in the river of life that connects all dimensions."

The High Summoner turned to see another of her guardians, one she thought dead. He wore his usual red coat and his brown hair was still tied back in a pony tail and flecked with grey.

"Are you unsent?" the High Summoner asked her former Guardian.

"No. I am dead, as is Aerith but we are not unsent."

The girl in pink continued, "We have come from the Lifestream, the river of souls to collect you High Summoner."

"Collect me?"

"This dimension is not the only one in existence, there are thousands," the Guardian explained, "Many souls have escaped from the Farplane and are threatening another dimension called Hyne. Once it falls they will choose another dimension to attack. It could even be this one."

The high Summoner hung her head, knowing that she was being called to help Spira again despite having done it twice before, "Why me?"

"Because one of those that has escaped; the one you alone can stop…was your husband…"

The High Summoner gasped, "He came back to life?"

"Someone brought him back," the Guardian corrected.

"Who?"

"We don't know," Aerith said defeated but the summoner got the impression she did know but wasn't going to tell.

I can't even summon anymore though," the young summoner said, trying not to get caught up in another threat to the world.

"In Hyne, summon spirits still exist so you will be able to summon there. Your target has already proved it is possible," Aerith commented.

"We wouldn't ask this of you if we had a choice," the man said sympathetically.

She sighed, "What do you need me to do?"

"We will send you to Hyne; there you just need to find your quarry. If you have any trouble jut seek out the three angels," her Guardian explained.

"Angels?"

"The One Winged Angel, Sephiroth, the Sorceress Angel Rinoa and the Third Angel Zidane," Aerith explained, "Just tell them we sent you."

The High Summoner nodded in understanding as the pink clad girl opened a pulsing green portal. The summoner walked towards it, and prepared to enter into its depths. She glanced back at her blonde lover before stepping into the green light, wondering what she had been forced into.

* * *

**_A/N: _**

**_I put Terra in early just for you Setra Kakan! But I don't know what Kefka and esper Terra fight like (I've only just got Setzer on FFVI). I you-tubed some game footage but if I got it wrong I'm sorry. Or I claim poetic license or something… _**

**_Okay I know it probably seems like this fic is going to be one of those crossovers which shoves as many final fantasies in as possible just for the hell of it but I promise it will work with my story. The original Angelic Intervention had FF7, 8 and 9 and this time I wanted to put FF10 in also but FF6 kinda showed up as well O.O_**

**_Hands up everyone who breathes on windows and draws smiley faces in it like Selphie (Raises hand)_**

**_Rain just for Zellycat!_**

**_Must not reveal cloaked figure…must not reveal cloaked figure. _**

**_The remnants explanation is what Wikipedia said they were so feel free to flame me if you don't agree. Zidane's response is based on that of one of my friend's from sixth form when I explained to her what they were. Lol._**

**_I know the recruitment of the 'High Summoner' seems very hurried but that's because I wanted to emphasise that Aerith and her friend were having to recruit people very quickly to help. That and I typed it like 6 minutes before I had to go to school O.O_**

**_(Scans Chapter for Yazoo) No Yazooness? (Sobs) Sorry Yazoo fans (sniffs)_**


	7. Rain and Lament

**Chapter Seven: Rain and Lament**

Zidane cursed the heavy rain as he made his way down the streets of Esthar. The rain had soaked his clothes and his golden hair threatened to escape from it ponytail with the added weight. Water dripped down his face, now pale from the cold, the glow of the street lamps reflected on it. The miserable atmosphere reminded him of his first visit to Burmecia and the devastation he Freya, Vivi and Quina had found. Thoughts of that time lead him to miss his friends and wonder where they were. He missed Garnet the most but knew he couldn't see her until his task was complete. Zidane wondered if Sephiroth had anyone he missed when he had visited Gaiaterra. That was before he remembered everyone from the Planet dimension feared and hated the One Winged Angel. Wondering what kind of lonely existence Sephiroth must have had, he sighed, his warm breath turning to mist in the cold air.

As it cleared, the genome saw a shadow moving down an alley towards him and golden eyes shining from inside the darkness. As their owner stepped into the light, Zidane was shocked by what he saw. He seemed to about twice as tall as an ordinary human and twice as wide. He wore grey clothes which had a glowing blue trim like Rosso's and he wore a blue scarf which matched his spiky blue hair. In his left hand he dragged a large cannon, which looked like it had come off something as big as the Ragnarok.

"Unusual to see a monkey wandering the streets of Esthar," their deep voice laughed.

Zidane drew his daggers to indicate his annoyance, "You're going to wish you didn't say that."

The man laughed again, "The monkey has guts, but they'll be splattered on the pavement soon."

Growling, the genome lunged at the other man. His sword struck but he was sent flying when a shield deflected his attack.

"What the?"

The man's booming laugh was starting to get on Zidane's nerves, "You cannot hope to break my shield. Your efforts are useless."

Ignoring the blue haired man's words, the blonde angel slashed again and again but still caused no damage to the much larger man.

"What are you?" Zidane gasped, tired from his constant assault.

The man smiled like a crocodile that was eying its prey, "I am Azul the Cerulean."

Before the genome could attack again, Azul shifted his cannon so he was holding it with two hands before unleashing a shot at Zidane. The sound and force shook the ground and buildings as the cannon ball headed for the genome. He ducked out of the wall just in time as it soared past his head, slamming into a nearby building. Zidane was forced to roll out of the way as said building collapsed, blocking the street and creating a cloud of dust. For a moment there was silence before it was broken by Zidane's opponent.

"We have another challenger," Azul commented as another figure appeared from the dust.

Zidane span around to face the new 'challenger'. They wore a grey hooded cloak and the bottom of their face was covered by a length of white fabric. However they seemed to be about the genome's stature and had soft blue eyes.

As the cloaked figure walked closer to Azul the large man seemed to recognise him, "What are you doing here?"

"Why are you wasting you time with this one?" the muffled voice of the figure replied. Zidane noticed their voice sounded somehow familiar but he couldn't place were he had heard it before.

"He's with the SeeD filth and he's one of the angels!" the large blue man protested, obviously irritated by the intrusion.

"Is he Sephiroth? No he isn't. Go find the One Winged Angel. Now."

"I do not follow your orders!"

The cloaked figure stepped forward menacingly, "Are you questioning me? Do I need to remind you that I have authority over you pathetic Tsviets?"

Azul's face contorted with fury as he fired his cannon at the figure in front of him. However the figure gestured lazily at the last possible moment, blocking the attack with a barrier. As the large 'Tsviet' readied his weapon again, the figure cast at spell at him. Lightning rained down on Azul, the effect made greater by the rain. Though the electrocution didn't kill him, he was severely weakened.

"Go. Now," The figure stated simply.

Grumbling the large blue man did as he was told and left via the alley he had come, leaving the cloaked figure alone with the genome.

Zidane brandished his daggers at them but they just walked past him, seeming to ignore him.

"Who are you?"

The figure paused for a minute before continuing to leave.

"I asked you a question!"

"As stubborn as ever," the figure muttered, pausing before continuing his stride again.

Angry now, Zidane threw the figure to the floor pinning them to the ground. He was shocked as long wavy pale silver hair fell from underneath their hood. Sapphire, eyes similar to his own, looked up at the third angel amused.

"Kuja?"

* * *

Yazoo silently gazed up at the grey sky, trying to compose himself in preparation for his impending task. For some reason, rain seemed to calm him. He was completely soaked and his hair hung dripping down his back but the cool temperature of the water made him feel numb and almost weightless. Brushing his hair out of his way, the silver haired youth continued through the city hoping he wouldn't encounter anyone.

However not a moment later he heard footsteps. Hiding in the shadows he waited for them to pass. It was the female angel and her Knight, both with their weapons ready to strike. As silently as he could Yazoo slipped into an alley and out of sight.

* * *

"_Why are you allowing that Sorceress' Knight to order you around?"_

"Can't you be quiet for one minute?" Sephiroth grumbled aloud at the voice in his head.

The rain seemed to have got harder and the silver haired man struggled to see as his wet hair clung to his face. Brushing the offending silver strands out of the way, his Mako enhanced eyes scanned the darkness. Seeing nothing he continued, cursing the noise of the storm which impeded his hearing.

The One Winged Angel stopped himself suddenly as he realised he had nearly tripped over a girl lying slumped against the side of a building as drenched as he was. She had brown hair which hung half way down her neck and a long plait wrapped in pink material hung down her back. Her attire didn't seem very appropriate for the weather and seemed very alien. She wore a white vest top which only just kept her modest with a neckline going down to nearly her waist, black lace up boots and shorts. From her belt hung a piece of blue and white material which covered her left leg and two holsters could be seen each holding a small pistol.

Sephiroth crouched down to check the girl was alive, her skin, pale with cold, made it difficult to tell, but he found she was breathing. Then sensing something behind him, he rose sharply, unsheathing the Masamune as he whirled round. When he stopped, his weapon hovered mere millimetres away from the throat of a strange boy. His hair was white and spiky despite the rain and his chest was bare. The only clothing he wore was a pair of white trousers and a belt with two sheaths, each containing a bizarre cross between a rifle and a sword; far more crude than Squall and Seifer's gunblades.

"So it is true," the youth muttered in interest, "You do actually consider others now and not just yourself…"

"Another Tsviet…" Sephiroth sighed exasperatedly.

The younger man laughed, "Yes, I am Weiss. I would expect the 'Great Sephiroth' to know of us."

"Do you want something?"

"The monkey has rubbed off on you…" the man said smiling.

"Don't call Zidane a monkey," the One Winged Angel growled venomously.

"You really have changed, defending a creature fair inferior to yourself…"

Sephiroth swung the Masamune round in a graceful arc towards the youth's torso. Weiss blocked it before firing at his opponent. The silver haired warrior rolled to avoid the bullets before striking again. Weiss slammed his rifle blades into the Masamune hardly fazing the older warrior. Sephiroth pivoted to strike the youth's unprotected back and caused a small gash in his side when he failed to turn quickly enough. Weiss stepped back in pain to allow himself some room to recover but his black clad opponent was upon him again pounding against his blades, weakening his guard.

"Our leader only wants you," the youth managed to grunt, "Why do you make this city suffer needlessly?"

"Anyone who orders pawns to hurt innocent people isn't someone I want to be acquainted with!"

The white haired boy jumped to the side quickly to avoid his opponent's sword before whirling round, swinging his blades so they collided with the Masamune making a violent clang. Sephiroth surprised Weiss by quickly withdrawing his sword then plunging it towards his side. However just as blade was about to meet flesh, both men were thrown as two fire spells flew at them.

Pulling himself to his feet, Sephiroth glanced across at Weiss to see him fleeing into the night. The silver haired warrior turned around to see the young girl now awake and staring nervously at him but her attire had changed. She now wore a long purple dress with a split on the right side and strips of pink fabric wrapped around the top of the skirt. Separate from the dress were bagging purple sleeves with tassels along the bottom and black and gold guards covered the man part of her arms. On her head was a wide brimmed purple witch's hat and instead of pistols she held a mage's staff.

"Um…Sorry about that," the girl said nervously, "I wasn't sure which of you to hit…"

"Forget it," Sephiroth replied stoically as he turned to leave.

"Umm…wait…"

He sighed as he turned round, "Yes?"

"…This may sound like a strange question…but…where am I?"

When the girl said that, Sephiroth didn't know why but he had a horrible sinking feeling. Not sure if he would like the answer he asked, "Where are you from?"

"Spira…" she replied in a small voice as if knowing he would think her insane.

"I'm not familiar with that place. Is it in Hyne?" he said seriously.

The girl looked up instantly, "You don't think I'm crazy?"

"If you are, I certainly am…" Sephiroth sighed, "You're not from Hyne are you. You're from another dimension like I am?"

"You're not from here either?" she asked curious.

The silver haired angel shook his head, "No."

"Then do you know Sephiroth, Rinoa and Zidane?"

He paused before answering, wondering how this girl knew of the three angels, "I am Sephiroth."

The girl looked shocked for a moment before composing herself, "Pleased to meet you Sephiroth. My name is Yuna."

* * *

"So Aerith sent you as well…" Zidane sighed, sympathising with Yuna.

"And she sent you to get rid of a 'Summoner' called Seymour Guado," continued Rinoa.

"Yes," Yuna replied, now in her 'Gunner' attire.

Apparently Yuna could change her glass at will by a strange board called a 'Garment Grid' and strange orbs called 'Dresspheres'.

The group had met outside the city and were now sheltering under the airship, waiting for the storm to subside so they could leave. After his encounter with his brother, Kuja had ran off into the night after telling Zidane to trust him. The golden haired genome wondered what his brother was up to but hadn't had any chance to question him.

After Kuja had left Zidane had returned to the city entrance to find Sephiroth already there with a strange girl who was also from a different dimension.

"And in your own dimension this Seymour tried to merge with a being called 'Sin' that you and your 'Guardians' defeated with the help of 'Aeons' making you 'High Summoner…" Sephiroth summarised.

"I know it might sound a little far fetched to you but 'Time Compression', 'GFs', 'Eidolons' and 'Genomes' did to me…"

Sephiroth allowed a half smile, "It seems to me that every dimension has a group of heroes defeating a 'Great Evil', even in my own."

"Do you think it's a coincidence?" Selphie asked, being surprisingly observant for her.

"Maybe…" Yuna said looking thoughtful.

"We don't really have time for this," Squall sighed, "We need to work out why these 'Tsviets' were in the city."

"I agree," Sephiroth concurred, "With have little to gain at the moment from trying to understand these events."

The others reluctantly nodded in agreement but Zidane felt there was something more to it and Sephiroth seemed to have some idea what is it was but he wasn't going to say anything. Deciding to leave the One Winged Angel for now the genome turned his attention to something else that had been bothering him.

"Yuna?" Zidane asked, "From what you said 'Aeons' sound like Eidolons and Guardian Forces. Squall said that a man helped the SHM to escape in Deling City because he summoned a beast they'd never seen before. Do you think it might have been Seymour and the creature was one of your 'Aeon' things?"

"It might have been…" Yuna replied looking thoughtful again, "What did it look like?"

Rinoa answered, "It was a huge brown beast with chains coming up from the ground holding it."

"Sounds like Anima… That would make sense…"

Yuna walked past the group into an open area. She closed her eyes in concentration and her 'Garment Grid' started glowing. Light surrounded her as well before slowly subsiding and revealing her in another different outfit. Now she was wearing a white and purple dress with a yellow ribbon belt around her waist. She wore matching baggy white sleeves which were separate from her dress and black boots were visible underneath the bottom of her skirt. Instead of her long plait, a string of pale beads hung in her hair and she held an ornate staff in her right hand. Though it was a fairly simple outfit, there was something about it that really made Zidane believe that Yuna was a High Summoner and one who helped save her world.

She spread her arms to her sides as four balls of glowing energy circled around her before disappearing. Throwing her arm up, she called forth a giant chain which fell from a dark portal in the sky. The chain slammed into the ground with incredible force, causing dark energy to gather around it as it continued downwards. Eventually the chain dragged up a creature as disturbing as Squall's group had described. It let out an ear splitting roar which sounded almost like a lament, causing a collective shiver amongst the group.

"That's the creature we saw…" Rinoa confirmed, staring at the beast with both horror and awe.

Yuna nodded in understanding, "This is Anima one of the most powerful in existence. She-"

"That thing's a she?" Seifer said rather insensitively.

The group jumped when the creature let lose another sorrow filled cry.

"She was created from the soul of Seymour's mother," Yuna continued glaring at Seifer, "Anima is his final aeon so we he calls her, she's very powerful."

Zidane walked towards the Aeon. Though it was disturbing, in a way it was also beautiful. Around its neck was a pendant with a picture of a very beautiful woman on it. She wore a black dress and dark hair cascaded down her shoulders.

"Is that her?" Zidane inquired, indicating the image.

Yuna nodded, "Yes."

The creature's sadness and the fact that a summoner called it reminded him of Garnet as she had been when he first met her. At that moment he felt the creatures sorrow as he wondered when he would get back to Gaiaterra.

The High summoner swung her staff to dismiss the aeon. It disappeared in a swirl of strange spirit like orbs with trailing rainbows tails. Like Anima they had a strange beauty to them. However the genome was broken from his reverie when a shot rang out across the clearing.

"Zidane!"

He heard the voice a fraction of a second before he felt the burning pain in his side. His vision swam and he was unable to tell who had called his name. The last thing he remembered before everything went black was the steady dripping of rain on his face and warm liquid dripping slowly seeping onto his skin.

* * *

_**A/N:  
KUJA!!! (Dances happily) Sorry to disappoint non FFIX players O.O**_   
**_Oh no! What have I done to Zidane O.O   
I inserted a tiny bit of Yazooness just for Zellycat. Rain and males with wet hair too!   
I gave Yuna a 'Summoner' class because I prefer her FFX attire to all of her FFX-2 outfits.   
I know, I used the Tsviets again. I couldn't change it and it still work. Sorry for non DoC players (which seems to be everyone but me O.O)   
The two featured are Azul the Cerulean and Weiss the Immaculate. _**


	8. Doubt

**_A/N:__ WARNING: Character Death…Well they're already dead you just find out they've died in this chapter. Sorry fans of said character…   
No it's not Zidane, I love the monkey too much._**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Doubt**

Again a future lost in time, troubled Rinoa's dreams. Sephiroth flew towards Rinoa his Masamune ready to strike. However as if she was a puppet on a string, she flew out of the way just in time. His dark wing was noticeable on his shoulder despite the dark fog surrounding what seemed to be a battle field. Figures fought monsters in the background but they were only blurs. Rinoa tried to scream as her body cast a Demi spell at Zidane throwing him several feet. Sephiroth charged at her again, sword raised. With no time to dodge, she hastily erected a protect spell which blocked the Masamune with a loud clang. Suddenly Rinoa felt something warm on his face, looking up she saw that some shafts of sunlight were poking through the darkness above them. Where the sunlight rested on the ground, Zidane was stood surrounded in a pink light. The sorceress was amazed as a set of golden wings appeared from the genome's back, marking his own birth as an angel. After getting over the initial shock he flew up towards his partner. He said something inaudible to the silver haired warrior as Rinoa's body readied another spell. Sephiroth only just had time to reply as fire ripped through the air towards them. Rinoa cheered internally as it missed. The two men looked at each and nodded before flying towards the sorceress; Sephiroth to her right and Zidane to her left.

"I see the monkey has a new toy," Rinoa heard her voice sneer sarcastically.

However whatever was taunting Zidane didn't notice Sephiroth cast a stop spell on her from behind. Unable to move, her expression was frozen in one of shock.

Sephiroth laughed, "A powerful sorceress is immobilised by a simple Stop spell, how pathetic."

Seeing their chance, the pair flew towards her. Rinoa felt two blades plunge into her abdomen at the same time. The Masamune through her back and Zidane's weapon through her stomach.

The two pulled their weapon out, Zidane gently and Sephiroth sharply before they flew towards the ground. Rinoa remained hovering, shocked and feeling warm liquid stain her clothes and run down her abdomen, legs and onto the ground. She coughed, blood seeping out the sides of her mouth. Before everything went black, the blurred figures ran towards her to join the two angels. One became much clearer a girl dressed in an orange jumpsuit, long brown her hanging down her back. She didn't know why but as the scene faded one phrase went through her mind, directed at the girl,

"I'm sorry…"

* * *

"The pathetic remnant couldn't do one simple thing…" 

Yazoo sighed internally; they were talking about him again. JENOVA, or the thing in the tank they claimed to be his 'mother' had ordered him to kill 'the monkey'. He had been chosen because apparently he had the best aim; however he suspected she may have been testing his loyalty. They were right to do this though. Yazoo didn't want to kill any more innocent people in the name of his 'mother'; too many had been killed already. However his brothers had been expecting him to do it, they thought he had been given an honour. So as he had readied his shot, he made sure to hit the third angel so that his injury was potentially, but not necessarily fatal. He didn't know if his target had survived but suspected he had.

Kadaj and Loz had been a little disappointed but believed he had been distracted by the storm, JENOVA's 'henchmen' however thought him useless which he found he didn't mind. He knew they were pawns just like him. They had been resurrected by JENOVA and were only following her orders to gain power. All of them except the Tsviets were planning on betraying her eventually.

When Yazoo wasn't running around with his brothers on JENOVA's orders, he would sneak around the base listening in to the others conversations. Most of the time, they tended to talk to themselves. Kefka wanted to destroy everything and had already left to cause as much destruction as possible. Seymour wanted to kill JENOVA then everyone else in the world to 'save it from pain'.

"'Save a world from pain' by causing pain. That plan makes sense," Yazoo thought sarcastically.

Ultimecia seemed to want revenge on a group of 'SeeDs' but was also aiming to achieve something called Time Compression. He assumed this was a method of destroying everything but wasn't sure. The last of the 'four great entities', Kuja, was hard to read. The 'genome' hardly ever spoke except to the thing in the tank and only objective reports. He didn't give any indication of his goals and motives.

It was one of such reports that they were listening to now. Kuja mainly served as a spy and despite his dependence of magic, he was very good at it. If any of JENOVA's 'allies' were to notice he was suspicious of his 'mother' he suspected it would be the silver haired genome.

"Kefka has been destroyed. The Cetra sent the half Esper Terra to kill him."

The creature in the tank remained motionless as usual. It looked human but its skin was blue, like a corpse in a freezer and wires entered into a strange helmet on its head, marked 'JENOVA'. Long silver locks similar to that of her eldest son hung down, partially obscuring her face. Her eyes however remained visible, one socket was empty and hollow whilst the left one glowed red. If she had ever been human, Yazoo thought they must have been quite beautiful, she bore a very striking likeness to the Cetra she so hated.

Thoughts of the trio's adopted older sister Aerith saddened him. He felt guilty for just leaving without telling her. Both he and Loz respected her and felt like she was family but Kadaj hated her. The youngest of the brothers felt she was trying to replace their mother and was keeping her from them. This had turned out to be true, but Yazoo knew now that Aerith had good reason. They had helped JENOVA escape from the Lifestream and now it seemed the unfortunate ancient was trying to clean up the mess they made.

"The High Summoner has also been sent from your dimension Seymour," Kuja continued.

The Summoner laughed, "The Ancient is hoping that Lady Yuna will defeat me again? She is strong but nothing without her guardians."

His laughing was stopped abruptly and the whole room went silent. All heads turned towards the creature in the tank, even those of his two brothers, as if they were hearing something. Then the same heads turned to look at him before leaving.

Wondering what was happened he stood up to leave as well but was stopped by Loz, "Mother said she just wanted to talk to you."

"Me? Why?"

"Maybe it's about killing the monkey," Kadaj suggested.

As the door closed behind the retreating group, Yazoo couldn't help feeling nervous. Had the thing spoken? Though it seemed lifeless and motionless, he felt threatened by the blue corpse.

"_You disappoint me, Son."_

"Who said that?" Yazoo said quickly hoping the source wasn't what he thought it was.

"_Your mother, the one they call 'JENOVA'."_

"My Mother…" Yazoo pondered aloud sadly.

"_Why do you deny that fact Yazoo? You would never have been born if it wasn't for my cells when Sephiroth was killed. You and your brothers used to be far more loyal than he but now you are suspicious of me."_

Yazoo didn't answer but feared the creature could read his thoughts.

"_I am your mother does that not mean anything? I gave you a task but you chose to disobey it…"_

"The rain affected my aim," Yazoo replied bluntly.

JENOVA paused, "_Maybe you are like Sephiroth. He has defied his birth also."_

Yazoo stood up angrily, "I am nothing like him!"

There was silence for a moment before the voice replied, _"I was hoping your strong resemblance to him wasn't a sign…"_

"I am not Sephiroth!" Yazoo spat angrily, in a voice more fierce than his usual.

Though JENOVA's tone was one of sadness, Yazoo could sense the sneering tone behind it. Turning his back on the creature that claimed to be his 'mother' he stormed out of the room. He had only one goal now; to protect his brothers.

* * *

Zidane was roughly woken by someone shaking him. He kept his eyes closed trying to remember what happened but whoever had woken him was having none of it. They shook him relentlessly until he opened his eyes. Before him was a silver haired figure with sapphire eyes similar to his own. 

"What are you doing here?" he asked his brother.

"You're not dead then. Though I suppose it's impossible for the dead to snore as loud as you just were," Kuja said amused.

"Ha, ha," the blonde replied sarcastically, "Since when have you made jokes?"

"Since I had the misfortune of meeting you," the silver haired genome retorted.

"Do you want something?" Zidane asked as he sat up on his bunk, ignoring the pain in his side.

"Actually I do. As you have probably guessed, I am working with those who were pursuing you in Esthar. However I am merely observing them and causing trouble for them. I don't owe my allegiance to JENOVA like they do."

"What?" Zidane exclaimed, "JENOVA? The thing that was controlling Sephiroth? The thing Rinoa was trying to erase?"

"Yes…Hasn't Sephiroth told you she's returned? I'm sure he has heard her calling."

Zidane wasn't surprised that Sephiroth hadn't told him, he wasn't the most open person, but he had thought Sephiroth seemed less alert than usual.

"No he hasn't…But isn't JENOVA dead?"

"As dead as Sephiroth," the silver haired genome replied, "Sephiroth was sent here by the Cetra, Aerith to search for his remnants. They managed to escape with JENOVA's help but she also managed to follow them here with her own power. She resurrected four of the 'great entities' and four members of the Tsviets. You've already encountered two of them, Azul the Cerulean and Rosso the Crimson. Sephiroth face another called Weiss the Immaculate and the third is a man called Nero the Sable."

"What are the great entities?" Zidane asked confused.

"Those that caused evil in their respective dimensions, unfortunately I am one of them…"

"JENOVA brought you back to life but you're going against her…Sounds like something you would do," Zidane laughed.

"I'm not the only one. None of them are loyal. Only the Tsviets and two of Sephiroth remnants are truly loyal," Kuja replied, a little disgruntled, "The three other entities she resurrected, Kefka, Ultimecia and Seymour all have their own motives in mind."

"I've heard of two of them…Ultimecia's who Squall and the others fought. And Yuna mentioned Seymour before I was…"

The angel paused, "How come I'm still alive?" he thought aloud.

"Because you are too stubborn to die," Kuja replied, speaking from experience, "You're as resilient as an oglop."

Zidane chuckled, "But what about 'Kefka' I haven't heard anything about him."

"You're not likely to now, he's dead," Kuja replied, seeming relieved, "Aerith sent a girl from his dimension, the World of Balance to deal with him."

"What happened to her?"

Kuja looked sad, "She's dead. She sacrificed all her energy to kill him. I managed to reach her just after the battle but it was already too late…"

Zidane's heart sunk as realisation set in, "This is a much bigger fight than when me, Sephiroth and the others faced Rinoa isn't it…"

Kuja nodded sympathetically, "The only ones who stand a chance against JENOVA are the three angels, you, Sephiroth and Rinoa. Your friends won't be much help either. That was part of the reason Yuna was brought to Hyne. Those resurrected by JENOVA can only be defeated totally by someone from their own dimension. It's to do with links again. Everyone from the same dimension is linked in some way by the make up of their soul. Only someone with a similar make up can defeat them. There are exceptions; the angels have the power to destroy people from any dimension, Sephiroth's remnants are exempt too."

Zidane was a little confused but thought he understood most of it, "Wait…you said two of Sephiroth's remnants were loyal to JENOVA. What about the third?"

"I think he is suspicious of JENOVA but is unwilling to question her because of his 'brothers' devotion. I will try my best to get him to ally with you but I can only do so much without being noticed…"

Zidane laughed quietly.

"What is it?" Kuja demanded.

"You just remind of another guy with silver hair, that's all."

The silver haired genome ignored that statement but now looked nervous.

"What's wrong?" Zidane inquired noticing the change in Kuja's mood.

"JENOVA's close to realising I'm here…I have to go…"

Zidane nodded in understanding and allowed his brother to leave. How Kuja had even gotten onto the Ragnarok in the first place he didn't know but he had to trust that the silver haired genome could get off again.

The third angel was left to his troubled thoughts and the pain in his side.

* * *

Zell ducked and weaved Yuna's attacks as the two sparred, watched by the rest of the group. Yuna was now in her 'Berserker' form and looked rather beast-like. Zell jabbed at Yuna's mid section but she somersaulted out of the way before responding with an attack of her own. The blonde guarded then brought his left foot around towards the High Summoner. 

"…_Angel…why…kill…attacked…tried to kill…genome…how…can trust…"_

Sephiroth had managed to force the voice down to disjointed sentences which were nowhere near as dangerous. However he couldn't keep it at bay for long. He knew JENOVA would never leave him alone until she got what she wanted and he knew she had ordered one of his remnants to kill Zidane. He assumed it was Yazoo but his aim had been very poor. Though the third angel had been losing a lot of blood, his injury was easily healed by Rinoa and Yuna in her 'White Mage' form.

Zell pushed Yuna to the ground but she sprang back up, narrowly missing him. He aimed a punch for her chest area but she guarded, grabbing his hand before throwing him. He righted himself in midair and landed steadily on his feet.

Sephiroth gazed past the two fighters at Rinoa. She seemed to be constantly glancing across at him nervously as if wanting to ask him something, in a way not so dissimilar to Zidane.

The High Summoner swung her legs around towards her opponent's, balancing on her hands. Zell was sent crashing to the floor but rolled out of the Berserker's path. He jumped to his feet then quickly ducked as Yuna dived at him.

Rinoa seemed to have finally plucked up the courage and approached the One Winged Angel.

"Yes?" he asked bluntly.

"I've been meaning to ask you something…" Rinoa said slowly.

He remained silent but she took it as an indication to continue, "Since just before we saw the SHM in Deling City, I've been having…strange dreams…"

"Dreams shouldn't be taken too seriously."

She continued, ignoring his quick response "You and Zidane are in them and so I am. I've seen myself fighting you two, setting monsters on an entire town, being killed by two angels…"

The sorceress paused obviously hoping Sephiroth would say something. However he remained silent.

"If they are true…I'm glad you stopped me but…I need to know…Will I go mad like Adel and Ultimecia?"

Sephiroth paused before answering, "I know nothing of the events you describe…"

Rinoa now seemed to become desperate, "If you won't tell me, then I'll have to ask Zidane…"

"Leave him alone. He won't be able to tell you anything either."

"So you do know something," the sorceress replied obviously very good at reading between the lines.

The One Winged angel sighed, "Do as you wish…"

Zell charged into the High Summoner, lifting her over his head and dumping her unceremoniously on the ground behind him. She gasped in surprise.

"Okay you win!" she said as she got up and dusted herself off.

"Oh Yeah!" Zell exclaimed punching the air with his fist.

* * *

Yazoo could hear JENOVA now and he didn't like what it was saying. 

"My sons…We can get rid of Sephiroth once and for all. The time for the Reunion is soon. With our combined strength the so called 'One Winged Angel' will fall and we can be a family."

Yazoo was pleased to see Kadaj looked a little bit wary; he had bad experiences of reunions. However once again it seemed as if the thing in the tank could read his thoughts.

"Last time Sephiroth tricked you into performing a false reunion to resurrect him. This time the reunion will be for all of all to get what we desire."

The middle brother's shred of hope faded as Kadaj's face became determined. Yazoo glanced around at the 'great entities'. They were staring at JENOVA with what would seem like loyalty but behind the masks, he could see either power lust or minds in the process of recalculating their plans to deal with the potential threat to their schemes.

However one face turned and looked at him. The sapphire eyes of the silver haired genome looking into his as if to say "Trust your instincts." Not certain if what he had seen was true he looked again but Kuja had turned away. He felt hope in the possibility that he wasn't the only sane one.

* * *

**_A/N:   
I know Jenova doesn't look much at all like Aerith but that description fits with a plot point later. Flame if you like. _**

**_Kuja's oglop line! Lol _**

**_AIM: To include all 13 of Yuna's Dresspheres (except maybe the mascot one O.O) _**

**_Can someone help me think of an angel name for Rinoa. Sephiroth has 'The One Winged Angel' and Zidane has 'The Third Angel' but I can't think of one for Rinoa. FFVIII fans please help O.O _**

**_Coming soon in the story is an opportunity to include ANY character from FFVII to FFX you request. As long as they aren't killed in their respective stories (so Vivi, Jessie/Biggs/Wedge/ etc are no-nos.). You can suggest up to five. Anyone you want, even the slightly more obscure characters. _**


	9. A Mother's Love

**_A/N: __Looks guilty at last date of Update. Sorry guys! (begs for forgiveness)  
This chapter s slightly shorter because I though were it ends was a logical stopping point.  
Cookies to my reviewers, Zellycat, Leontillybalambgirl, Setra Kakan, WildfireDreams & StarcatcherAD.  
(Points to chapter title and grins evilly) Yes it does mean what you're all thinking_**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: A Mother's Love**

Rinoa was beginning to think the world was against her. After failing to get Sephiroth to talk she had then asked Zidane. His response of 'we can't tell you' confirmed to the Sorceress that her fellow angels did know something but weren't going to say. They were hiding something from her and she wanted to know why.

Still troubled by the dreams, or maybe predictions she finally decided to tell her Knight. His response angered her the most.

"You aren't the only one having these dreams."

"You've been having them as well?" Rinoa asked shocked.

Squall nodded, "They're always from Sephiroth's point of view though…He did say I was linked to him…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I thought they were probably nothing," Squall sighed, "And I know you don't trust Sephiroth as it is…I don't know why but…I do."

Rinoa wasn't sure if she could trust anyone now, even Squall had hidden something from her. She shook her head to clear her mind of these thoughts, they could be her undoing.

* * *

"They know we're hiding something, Sephiroth…" 

"We were forbidden to say anything," the One Winged Angel sighed.

"Since when have you cared about 'rules'? In my world I'm the good guy and I've never bothered with them," Zidane asked, obviously hoping to persuade his fellow angel.

Sephiroth remained silent, unwilling to answer the genome's question.

"We could tell them what happened, but leave Rinoa out?" the Third Angel suggested.

The silver haired man sighed, "That wouldn't work. We would be saying that I went to your dimension to defeat a random sorceress from some other random dimension."

"Well…we could just tell them about your past…I guess that might stop them thinking we're hiding something…"

Sephiroth didn't like that idea, but he knew he may have to if they didn't find and defeat JENOVA quickly.

"_Why are you planning on doing exactly what the monkey says?"_

"Speak of the devil," Sephiroth thought, "'Devil' being the appropriate word."

"'_Devil' am I? What does that make you, Sephiroth? An angel you may be but certainly not a virtuous one."_

"Are you even listening to me?" Zidane asked, breaking the One Winged Angel from his reverie.

"That depends on what you were talking about," Sephiroth replied, glad the genome had distracted him from the voice, listening to it could be dangerous.

Zidane opened his mouth obviously to reprimand Sephiroth but faltered, "Did you just make a joke?"

The One Winged Angel sighed exasperatedly at the genome's reaction, which was going into near hysterics.

"Did you actually say something important?"

After recovering slightly the genome replied, "I was just thinking…"

"_That must have hurt."_

"Now who's trying to make jokes?" Sephiroth replied to the voice in his head.

JENOVA made several unintelligible noises indicating she didn't like being made fun of.

"When I found out about your past, you didn't deny it, that made me trust you more. You accepted what you had done and the consequences," the genome continued, unaware of the conversation occurring in Sephiroth's head.

"_He's lying," _JENOVA replied, obviously still sore from Sephiroth's remark.

"I'll think about it…" Sephiroth said finally.

The Third Angel nodded, trusting that his fellow angel really would consider it.

"_See, you do exactly as the Genome says. He is the Cloud of his own dimension, why do you listen to him?"_

"Shut up." Sephiroth replied, bored of the voice's constant intrusions.

JENOVA didn't like that at all, she screamed like she had when the Sephiroth first arrived in Hyne though not quite as loudly.

When she calmed down she spoke in a low menacing voice, one that meant she had finally tired of her mind games with the One Winged Angel, "Fine, I will have to control you by force…First, you can get rid of the Monkey."

* * *

Zidane was worried, Sephiroth didn't usually just zone out like that. Something serious was distracting him, something other than the suggestion of revealing his past. 

Zidane was sure he heard Sephiroth say 'Shut up' under his breath but the silver haired warrior didn't even seem to notice the genome was there. His eyes had a faraway look almost as if he was conversing with someone in his head.

The look continued even when he stood up, drawing the Masamune.

"Sephiroth?"

The only response Zidane got was the One Winged Angel lunging at him murderously, the Masamune raised.

The Third Angel leapt out of the way painfully, the bullet wound still aching. Still Sephiroth came at him but it was as if the silver haired warrior was in a trance. Glad that his daggers were lying on his bunk Zidane grabbed then and span around as the Masamune slammed against them.

"Snap out of it!" Zidane cried desperately

The silver haired warrior didn't reply and continued slamming his blade into Zidane's. However, Zidane noticed his attacks were slower than normal and not as powerful as they usually were. It was as if Sephiroth was trying to stop himself, he was fighting whatever was causing him to act in such a way. The silver haired warrior charged towards Zidane the longer blade slamming into Zidane's twin daggers. Zidane struggled to keep hold of his weapons but retained his grip on them. Swinging his weapons round he tried to disarm Sephiroth but the silver haired warrior struck the genome' daggers, nearly disarming him. The battle was scarily similar to one the two had fought previously, when Zidane had been forced to kill his friend. The One Winged Angel was trying to free himself but had so far been unsuccessful. The Third Angel knew how good his friend was and hoped that he could beat his possessor before the battle ended in a death, his own or Sephiroth's.

* * *

Yazoo was troubled. As he strode down the metal corridor of JENOVA's base, thoughts passed rapidly through his mind. His brothers were excited about finally getting their reunion but they didn't realise the middle brother was less than keen on the idea. JENOVA was going to use them, of that he was certain. She wasn't the maternal mother they had hoped for all their life. She was cold, ruthless and selfish. His brothers were blinded by their longing for a parent, the 'Great Entities' were blinded by power lust and their desire for revenge. Yazoo knew the only one who would benefit from what JENOVA was doing was the Calamity herself. The silver haired youth stopped suddenly as he heard footsteps behind him. He didn't bother to turn around, there was no mistaking them. 

"You know JENOVA is tricking everyone don't you? You aren't as foolish as the other two."

"What do you want, Kuja?" Yazoo replied feigning boredom.

The silver haired genome chuckled softly, "Ever the stubborn one, just like your creator."

"I am nothing like him!" Yazoo growled as he span around.

Kuja just looked at him calmly and unreadable as always, "Yes you are. That is why you can tell JENOVA isn't what she seems."

"That would make me a traitor," Yazoo replied expressionlessly, he knew JENOVA probably knew about this conversation.

"You need to trust your instincts more." Kuja said finally before turning and heading back down the corridor.

Yazoo had acted irritated by Kuja's words but what the genome had said made sense. He knew now for sure he was the only sane one. However it didn't explain why Kuja was serving JENOVA. If he knew the Calamity was tricking everyone and would most likely betray them eventually, why was he there?

* * *

Sephiroth lunged at Zidane who only just manage to sidestep in time to avoid the attack. The older man quickly recovered and jumped back before charging at the genome again. Zidane jumped and tried to strike his opponent's back with his weapons but Sephiroth quickly spun round and blocked the twin daggers. He leapt back out of Zidane's reach but the blonde angel jumped up and used his tail to grab onto a pipe hanging from the ceiling. Then he swung himself towards his opponent. As he landed their blades collided, throwing both battlers back. Zidane being the smaller of the two, and not as strong as Sephiroth felt the effect of the collision more, but Sephiroth had been thrown back into a wall. Zidane adjusted the grip on his daggers ready for the One Winged Angel's next attack but it didn't come. 

The elder man just stood, breathless leaning against the wall. His face was pale, emphasising his green eyes which once again had their usual look of alertness.

"Jenova…" he managed to gasp.

"That thing Garnet was linked to?" Zidane asked as he walked over to his fellow angel warily.

Sephiroth nodded; then chuckled bitterly, "She didn't have to physically control me before."

"JENOVA's from you dimension, the Planet, isn't she? If she can control you here then why didn't that happen in Gaiaterra?" Zidane asked confused.

The older man paused before answering, "She must be in Hyne…"

"But isn't she dead?"

"As dead as I am…" the One Winged Angel replied gravely.

* * *

Yazoo cursed himself for not realising how soon JENOVA wanted the reunion to happen. Kadaj and Loz looked determined; nothing was going to change their minds. Their eyes like everyone else's were fixed on the Calamity and Yazoo could almost feel the Great Entities relief that three potential threats were going to be 'removed' as he had heard Seymour say. 

The 'occasion' was marred however by one thing.

"Let us out of here you freaks! If we could summon you'd all be sorry!"

"Well you can't, so kindly be silent," Seymour replied mockingly.

The cries were coming from a cell which looked into the room with JENOVA in. It had magic barriers on it so the prisoners it held couldn't escape but they could be heard. A young girl of about eight was one of the captives and she wouldn't be quiet. Long purple hair rested on her shoulders and a strange horn was visible on her forehead. Despite her unusual appearance, Yazoo admired her audacity but knew the Entities wouldn't dare hurt her or the other prisoner. The other was a girl of about eighteen with long chocolate coloured hair. She apparently was more important than her younger friend. Yazoo has found out from the conversations of the Tsviets that she could be used to defeat JEONVA so needed to be protected. The chocolate haired girl remained in view of the tank so the Calamity could 'keep an eye' on her. The silver haired youth suspected it was so the Entities wouldn't dare take her as a bargaining tool to get power.

"Kuja! Make them get us out right now!" the purple haired girl exclaimed.

Kuja glanced across lazily at the girls before returning his gaze to JENOVA.

Ignoring the girl, Rosso turned to the brothers, "Who wants to go first?" she asked with the air of someone giving Chocobo rides.

Kadaj stepped forward and his eyes glazed for moment, their 'mother' obviously giving him instructions. The youngest of the brothers walked up to the tank and laid his hands on the glass. The room was flooded with green light with the contact, blinding those gathered there. When Yazoo's vision returned Kadaj was gone. The thing in the tank and changed somewhat as well. The liquid around it bubbled and its skin looked more healthy and alive. Encouraged by what Kadaj's sacrifice had achieved, Loz followed suit and laid his hand on the tank's surface. Another flash filled the room and the sound of breaking glass could be heard as well as the prisoner's screams. Liquid spilled out onto the floor filling the room with the scent of Mako. In the tank, where the blue thing once stood now was a woman. Nero stepped forward and helped her down from the wreckage of the tank. As the woman gazed around the room at the Entities and Tsviets with her catlike green eyes, Yazoo could almost feel the power radiating from her. Her hair was different from the blue creature's. Her's was tied in a long silver plait with a black ribbon. The ribbon matched her dress which reminded the middle brother of the one Aerith had worn in life. As if just noticing how her hair was styled, the woman sighed in what seemed to be disgust before pulling it from her locks. Silver cascaded down her back, adding to the aura of power she already exuded and added to her ethereal beauty.

Finally the woman, Jenova, looked at the remaining SHM.

"What is the matter, Yazoo?"

* * *

**_A/N:  
Sephy made a joke! Admittedly not a very good one but meh, we've all gotta start somewhere.   
'Rosso turned to the brothers, "Who wants to go first?" she asked with the air of someone giving Chocobo rides.' Lol, I love that line.   
Yay, human form Jenova! I was so tempted to have her dressed like Akasha from Queen of the Damned. So tempted. _**


	10. The Whole Truth

**Chapter Ten: The Whole Truth**

"What is the matter Yazoo?"

The silver haired youth just stood speechless at his 'mother'. He could see elements of his brother's appearance in her but most of all she looked like the trio's adopted sister, Aerith.

"My form was decided by your brothers," Jenova explained, obviously reading Yazoo's thoughts, "A poor choice in my opinion."

Still he could not find any words to say to the beautiful, yet evil creature in front of him.

"You sadden me Yazoo. I am your mother yet you don't even trust me," the Calamity said with mock hurt.

"Disobedient children should be punished," Nero added in his usual emotionless tone.

"Yes," Jenova agreed, looking thoughtful.

"Run you idiot!" the purple haired girl screamed from her cell.

Yazoo was shocked by the girl's outburst. Was she trying to help him?

"Quiet!" Azul snapped at the young prisoner.

The remnant allowed himself a glance at the two girls and was shocked to see they were both looking at him, worried expressions on their faces. Where they worried about him?

Jenova sighed gently before gesturing towards the cell. Spheres of water appeared around the small girl before joining together around her, slowly drowning the unfortunate child. The chocolate haired girl tried to free her friend but a barrier around the water prevented it.

"Leave her alone!" Yazoo exclaimed suddenly, unsure why he had said it.

Jenova did stop, she gestured again before turning to Yazoo with a cruel look in her eyes.

"So your loyalty to me had wavered as well. Just like Sephiroth's."

By now, Yazoo was past caring about being compared to the One Winged Angel.

"I don't want to be loyal to someone who deceived my brothers!"

On impulse he drew the Velvet Nightmare and fired at the Calamity. He was horrified however as she caught the bullet easily between her thumb and forefinger. She looked at it emotionlessly before grinding it to dust.

"Such a pity when my own son tries to kill me…"

"I am not your son!"

He raised his weapon to fire at Jenova again but was interrupted as several spells flew through the air towards him. Surprised he was unable to dodge as they threw him to the floor. As he tried to get to his feet he looked around to see the source of the spells, Seymour, Ultimecia and Kuja and they were readying more. Still weakened from the first set he flung himself out of the way as they missed him by centimetres. He knew he was out numbered but he wasn't going down without a fight. Rosso shot a blade of crimson light at him which he managed to dodge. Unfortunately however he rolled straight into a Tornado spell cast by Ultimecia. Yazoo was thrown across the room into the opposite wall. Dazed, he once again tried to get to his feet but his body would not obey. As the world went in an out of focus he could hear an unfamiliar female voice a few feet away from him.

"Stop them! If he's your son why are you just letting them attack him?"

Yazoo didn't hear the reply however as he passed out.

* * *

Rinoa was speechless. It took every ounce of willpower she had to stop herself fainting on the spot. What she feared her dreams meant was true.

Zidane had convinced Sephiroth to tell the group about his past and what Rinoa had done in Gaiaterra in defiance of the restrictions placed on them. This meant sometime time in the future she might become like Adel or Ultimecia. What made it worse was she might also claim the life of one of her friends. Like she had told Sephiroth, she was glad they stopped her but she couldn't help being wary f them but most of all she feared herself.

Everyone gathered on the Ragnarok, averted her gaze, everyone except Squall. She was potentially dangerous, a time bomb waiting to explode. However the same was true of Sephiroth. He could at any time be possessed by JENOVA and his past was questionable also. Only Zidane would look at him but unlike the Sorceress he didn't seem to care.

If the situation hadn't been so serious Rinoa would have laughed. She, Sephiroth and Zidane were all angels but their suitability was suspect. Sometime in the future she could go mad and try to destroy entire dimensions, Sephiroth had tried to destroy his own world and Zidane had been created as an 'Angel of Death' with the goal of causing wars and with it the deaths of thousands of people. Tainted Angels, that's what they were.

"Tainted Angels…" Rinoa though sadly, "I don't have a title. What better than the 'Tainted Angel'…"

The Tainted Angel was broken from her reverie when she noticed a pair of catlike green eyes looking at her with concern. She moved her gaze away and stared at her reflection in the window of the Ragnarok and was shocked when she saw how pale she was. Her skin was almost white. The paleness of her skin her reminded of Edea and more unsettlingly, Adel and Ultimecia. Her appearance shocked Rinoa causing the last of her strength to fade. As she fainted memories of the sorceresses she had faced flashed through her mind before being replaced by events in the future with herself as the cause.

* * *

"_My last night here for you,_

_Same old songs just once more._

_My last night here with you?_

_Maybe yes, maybe no…"_

A twenty five year old Rinoa sat on the floor of the room she and Squall once shared. On her lap sat a Gunblade and scattered on the floor around her were photos of the pair; herself smiling in every picture and Squall brooding as usual. She ran her fingers along the smooth surface of the blade as she sang her mother's song. It had been a month since Squall's death but her wounds showed no signs of healing.

"_I kinda liked it your way,  
How you shyly placed your eyes on me,  
Did you ever know?  
That I had mine on you…_"

"Rinoa?"

The Sorceress turned her gaze towards the now open door to see a yellow clad brunette looking in concerned.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rinoa replied automatically. She was tired of being asked that.

Selphie knelt down on the floor next to her friend and began looking at the various photos.

"…You can't just shut yourself away Rinoa…Squall wouldn't want you to…"

Why did everyone keep telling her what Squall would want? They didn't know him like she did…

"…If Squall taught me anything it's that it's better to be alone…You don't get hurt then…"

Selphie shook her head sadly, "But you taught him that wasn't how you should live…"

"What use is my advice…It's my fault he's dead!"

"No it wasn't…It was an accident. Don't think like that, he wouldn't want you to."

Rinoa stood up in frustration still holding the Gunblade in her right hand, "Why do people keep telling me what Squall would want! You aren't him so you can't speak for him!"

"I was only trying to help…" Selphie replied dejectedly, "We miss him too you know…"

"You didn't kill him…"

Selphie stood up next to her friend, "None of us blame you for what happened. The only person who does is yourself…"

"Yes you do…I know you do!"

"No we don't. It was an accident…"

"You won't tell me the truth because I'm a sorceress isn't it! You're scared of me and what I might do to you!"

"That's not true!" Selphie exclaimed, "We've never judged you because you were a sorceress. It was never a problem!"

"Stop lying to me!" Rinoa screamed, completely consumed by rage and torment that had been building over the past month.

When it passed she realised the Lion Heart had pierced the brunette's heart. She now hung lifeless, held up only the blade. Emotionlessly, the Sorceress pulled the trigger, throwing the body off her Knight's weapon. Selphie slumped to the floor, blood flowing onto the carpet and staining her clothes.

* * *

Zidane felt sorry for his two fellow angels. From their story Sephiroth and Rinoa had suffered the most. None of the others would look at them. Sephiroth didn't seem to care as he had accepted what response they had received, but it affected Rinoa. For the first few moments after they finished, she had been deathly pale and then collapsed. What had surprised the genome was that Sephiroth had let her see he was concerned. Usually he only allowed himself to show concern for the Third Angel. He was less aloof towards Zidane then he used to be but he was still cold with others. Selphie had told him when she first met Squall he was very similar to Sephiroth. It made sense as the two were linked but strangely, Sephiroth's past hadn't surprised the gunblade wielder at all.

Opposite Squall, Yuna seemed troubled. Her face showed deep concentration and worry. No one else seemed to notice, they were as deep in thought as she was.

Their reverie was broken however when the Ragnarok jerked as if being hit by something. They paused, as if waiting to see if they had imagined it. Then it happed again.

"What was that?" Irvine asked standing up quickly and looking out of the ship's window.

The rest of the group followed suit but Yuna ran out of the cockpit, unnoticed by the resident heroes and even the usually observant Sephiroth. Zidane tore after the High Summoner.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he ran to meet her.

"Seymour, he's attacking the ship. I'd recognise that type of impact anywhere," she explained as she opened the hatch.

She changed to her summoner attire and jumped out of the flying transport, much to the genome's horror. However she summoned a large black dragon with a wheel on its back. Zidane realised it must be Bahamut, as he looked in Spira as it looked a like the one the three angels had faced in their first battle together. The Third Angel unfurled his wings and followed the summoner.

As they soared down towards the ground, the Third Angel was able to see their target. Anima was chained to ground below them and by its side was a blue haired man wearing strange robes.

"That's Seymour, right?"

As Yuna was about to reply, Bahamut was thrown backwards by one of Anima's attacks. Then suddenly the King of Dragons disappeared causing its summoner to hurtle towards the ground. Zidane instantly sped towards her and caught her before setting her down on the ground.

The moment her feet touched the earth she began summoning again. This time she summoned a trio of aeons. One looked like a praying mantis, another a bee and the third like a ladybird but at the same time they looked sort of human.

As they readied an attack, Seymour gestured causing them to disappear like Bahamut.

"He's using banish," Yuna explained in frustration, "He'll dismiss any aeon I summon."

"Guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way," Zidane sighed, drawing his twin daggers.

His partner's body glowed for a moment before her attire changed to red and brown armour. Instead of a staff she was now carrying an ornate blue sword which seemed to be full of water.

The Angel and Summoner charged at the aeon, their weapons raised. Though the creature made a horrifying noise on the impact, it seemed unhurt.

"What the…?" Zidane managed to gasp.

In revenge to their attack, Anima let loose an ear-splitting cry sending a pulse of energy flying at the pair. As it flew at them, they only narrowly managed to dodge in time. However the aeon was faster than it looked and managed to release another pain filled attack almost immediately. It headed straight for Yuna who with no means of flying was almost certainly going to be hit. The Third Angel quickly swooped at the High Summoner and grabbed her, pulling her up out of the way of the impending wave.

Zidane looked down towards Anima and saw its summoner was laughing. Yuna obviously saw it to as she had a troubled expression on her face again. As she started glowing again, the genome set her down on the ground. When the light cleared, she was still wearing armour but this time is was black. Her appearance now was almost as chilling as Anima's.

Zidane landed next to her as she swung her more traditional sword, releasing a ring of black bubbles. The genome noticed that she Yuna gasped as the bubbled appeared as if the attack stole some of her strength. Just before Yuna's attack hit Anima, it cried again signalling its own attack. The High Summoner created more dark bubbles as the wave of energy flew at her. Seeing she wouldn't be able to dodge, and he wouldn't be bale to pull her out of the way, Zidane threw himself in front of the summoner.

For a moment his vision blurred, then he realised his body was glowing with a pink light. Yuna looked across at the genome with worry on her face but she also looked tired. It was then he realised the dark bubbles _were_ portions of Yuna's strength.

Making a mental note to ask her about it later he smiled cheekily at the High Summoner to show he was okay before flying towards Anima. He spun in midair, swinging his blade at the same time. As if they were being directed by the genome's blade, streaks of red light hit Anima again and again, causing the aeon to scream in pain with each strike.

As Anima faded in a swirl of pyreflies, Zidane landed, the pink light that engulfed his body fading. Yuna stepped forward to confront Seymour, who looked surprised that his aeon had lost, but a familiar scream distracted her. Zidane and Yuna glanced behind them and saw that Rinoa was falling rapidly towards the ground. As Zidane was about to fly up to her, a hand grabbed her's, stopping her descent. The One Winged Angel lowered her to the ground, where she landed on her feet gingerly. She was still very pale and weak but managed to stand. Behind them, the Ragnarok was landing.

"Where did Seymour go?" Sephiroth asked

Yuna and Zidane span around and saw that the blue haired summoner had now disappeared. To make matters worse, shadows began appearing surrounding the group and turning into strange creatures. Clapping rang through the air and echoed even though it seemed to be from only one person.

Ahead of Zidane and Yuna a portal opened and two women stepped out of it. One had long silver hair, amber eyes and was dressed in a red cloak. Despite her strange appearance, it was the other that shocked Zidane the most. She also had silver hair but shining from beneath the strands which hung across her face were glowing green catlike eyes.

* * *

**_A/N:  
Looks guilty, sorry it's been a while since I posted last, I've basically been trying to work on three fanfics at once, something had to give. I'm convinced the quality of this has suffered because of it…  
OMG I killed Selphie! I put this in as a little explanation as to who Rinoa killed for those who haven't read the original Angelic Intervention. And for those who did well, now you know what happened. Whilst I was writing this I kept thinking 'Run Selphie! Run!" like in Scary Movie lol. Fellow Selphie fans don't hurt me!  
Thanks to my reviewers, Zellycat, Setra Kakan, WildfireDreams, StarcatcherAD, Leontinllybalambgirl and Rakunya, you rock! _**


	11. Or Should I Say Monkey

**_A/N: The feel of this chapter may be a little different because I planned and structured it a little differently. _**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Or Should I Say Monkey**

Yazoo heard the world around him become clearer but his head pounded and his eyes wouldn't open. As he couldn't use his vision to determine where he was he opted to use his hearing. For some reason he could hear three sets of breathing, his own and two others. He assumed that Jenova must have made somebody guard him.

"Why didn't she kill me?" Yazoo thought to himself.

The only reason he could think of was that she must need him for something; she probably still wanted to take his spirit like she had taken Kadaj's and Loz's. Thinking of his brothers hurt, their 'mother' was using them and he could do nothing about it. Twice Kadaj had been used but Yazoo wasn't sure who it was the first time, Sephiroth or Jenova? Jenova had no problem lying to the three brothers, who was to say it wasn't her the first time; maybe Sephiroth was just a puppet too.

Yazoo tried to open his eyes again and found this time, they obeyed. His vision was blurry but in front of him were two chocolate brown eyes which were looking into his with concern. As his eyes focused he was able to see it was the brown haired girl Jenova had ordered the Tsviets to capture. He looked past her and saw the purple haired girl sat a short distance away. Surprisingly she seemed to have dried now after Jenova's attempt to drown her causing Yazoo to wonder how long he had been unconscious. He was in was the cell which looked into the room Jenova's tank was it. The tank was still there, the only light source, but now the front was smashed and the room was empty.

"Are you alright?" the brown haired girl asked as she moved away from him slightly.

He was surprised that she actually seemed to be concerned about him but managed to nod. Obviously satisfied, the girl rose and sat a few feet away, next to her friend as if wary of Yazoo which, he thought, she probably was.

After an uncomfortable silence the girl spoke again, "Your name is Yazoo, correct?"

"Yes…"

"My name is Garnet and this is Eiko," the girl explained, indicating her friend who waved nervously, "We were hoping you would be able to tell us why we were brought here…"

"Yeah," Eiko squeaked, "That hag sent her henchmen to get us but we didn't get an explanation!"

Yazoo was surprised that any would be brave or maybe stupid enough to call Jenova a 'hag', "…All I know is that Garnet can be used to defeat Jenova," he replied finally.

Garnet looked down and closed her eyes, obviously understanding, "Because I am linked to her…"

"She is linked to Jenova?" Yazoo thought. From the little he knew about Garnet, she and Jenova didn't seem alike at all. It was hard to believe the two were connected.

"Why am I here?" Eiko squeaked.

Apparently, she had been too stubborn to let the Tsviets take Garnet so they had been forced to bring her with them, however feeling Eiko probably wouldn't like that answer, Yazoo said, "I don't know."

Eiko didn't seem happy with that answer either but didn't ask anymore questions.

Silence descended in the room again but this time was broken when Yazoo heard footsteps clicking on the metal floor of the corridor outside. They seemed familiar so he tried to listen more carefully but Eiko spoke again, "What's the matter?"

The girls, lacking Jenova cell and Mako enhanced senses obviously couldn't hear them.

Rising unsteadily and ignoring the wave of dizziness which hit him Yazoo replied, "There's someone coming."

The girls got up as well and stared nervously at the door. The footsteps were loud enough for the girls to hear now. They continued for a moment until the sound was replaced by the sound of an electronic lock being opened.

The door swung open, causing light to filter in the cell. When Yazoo's eyes adjusted he could see a hooded figure stood in the door way holding three weapons. He threw the Velvet Nightmare to Yazoo, who caught is shocked, a rod to Garnet and strangely what seemed to be a flute to Eiko.

"Who are you?" Eiko demanded

The figure laughed, "To the point as ever, Eiko."

He pulled his hood down and feathery silver hair cascaded out onto his shoulders.

"Kuja!" Eiko squeaked in surprise.

"Why are you here?" Garnet asked, obviously not amused.

"I am helping you escape."

"I can see that," she replied, "but why?"

Kuja pondered her question before answering, "Because I don't trust Jenova or want anything to do with her…But she summoned me and I obeyed because I need to keep an eye on her for someone."

Garnet didn't seem convinced so Kuja continued, "The Entities have their eyes on you as a bargaining tool. They want to use you to blackmail Jenova into giving them power."

"That doesn't explain why you're helping Yazoo," Garnet retorted.

"There are two reasons why. Jenova wants to join with him like she did his brothers and if she does she'll become even more powerful than she is now."

"And the second reason?" Eiko asked.

"Somebody needs to deliver the Canary safely to her husband."

Garnet stopped, shocked, "Zidane's in this dimension?"

He nodded.

"I can get you out of the building, but after that it's up to you."

Yazoo could tell Garnet wasn't sure whether to trust Kuja or not, Eiko just seemed glad to be able to get out of there.

"What have you got to lose?" Yazoo said.

Garnet looked at him, then at Kuja and nodded, "Alright."

Kuja slipped out of the cell door, checking the corridor for anyone. Yazoo followed him, his senses also alert. Stealthily the two men went through the cell area towards the main corridor, closely followed by the two girls.

Being brave or stupid must be contagious, Yazoo thought. Kuja seemed to be a perfectly obedient spy but he had been spying on Jenova as well. Yazoo wondering how many of Kuja's reports had been accurate. Then again, Kuja seemed to have gone to a lot of trouble if he just wanted to help Zidane.

As they reached the junction to the main corridor, Kuja stopped them.

"I will lead you to the exit but I can't go just yet. There are more of Jenova's prisoners I needs to free. When you get out of here, you'll come out at a place called Great Salt Lake. You need to keep running until you reach a cliff face and then find a way up it. Just keep heading north after that until you see a Red Dragon in the sky."

"A 'Red Dragon'?" Eiko asked as Kuja stepped out into the main corridor.

Garnet hushed her friend as they followed Kuja and Yazoo down the main corridor. Ahead of them was the hangar and beyond it, the exit.

Fortunately no-one saw them and they reached the hangar without incident. Unseen the group quickly ducked into the hangar, behind a pile of metal boxes. Yazoo looked up and saw galleries looking down into the open area below, if someone walked onto them, they would be caught. There wasn't anywhere to hide so they would have to cross quickly.

"When I indicate for you follow; do it okay?" Kuja whispered

The group nodded in agreement then Kuja purposefully walked out in plain view of anyone who would enter the hangar then. As he got a few feet away from the group he indicated for them to follow. They did so quickly and as quietly as they could on the metal floor, Yazoo's clunky boots and Garnet heels were not the best footwear for stealth.

After several nerve-racking seconds they eventually got close to the door. As they breathed a sigh of relief however they felt tremors behind them. Spinning around, Yazoo saw walking towards them Rosso and beside her the towering form of Azul.

Kuja turned to Yazoo, hastily retrieving something from underneath his cloak.

He placed it Yazoo's hand, obviously anxious "When you get out of here I need you to find Sephiroth. I know you don't want to but if you want to save your brothers you have to. Zidane should be with him, give that to Zidane."

Yazoo looked down at the object Kuja had given him; it was a strange blue orb. He wasn't happy about seeing Sephiroth but it seemed he didn't have any choice, "Alright…"

"Good. Now run."

Yazoo didn't move immediately and neither did Garnet and Eiko as they watched Kuja run towards the two Tsviets, casting spells as he went. On impulse, Yazoo drew his Velvet Nightmare and began shooting at the pair. Behind him, he heard Garnet and Eiko ready their weapon but he remembered he had made a promise to make sure they got to Zidane safely.

"Leave."

He felt their gaze on him but he continued shooting,

"What? No!" Eiko squeaked, "We may not be keen on the guy but we're not going to leave him to killed by those two!"

"Do as I say." He said without turning around to look at the girls.

After a pause, he heard their footsteps heading off behind him and then heard their feet hit rock instead of metal, telling him they were outside of the metal doors. He backed away slowly, still firing at Rosso and Azul until he was stood in between the huge metal doors which were the exit to the lair. He had come in through these doors and had only left before with his brothers. This time he was alone and he didn't like it. He felt like he was abandoning them, but if Kuja was right he needed to find Sephiroth, whether he wanted to or not.

After dodging an attack of Rosso's Kuja glanced briefly at Yazoo, "I told you to run!"

Yazoo remained rooted the spot, his legs not wanting to obey. Seeing this, Kuja turned his body sharply and fired a thunder spell at the control panel to the left of the door. The controls sparked and smoke rose from it as the metal doors began closing.

Realising he was going to be crushed if he remained standing there he stepped back, into the valley beyond. He watched the events through the closing doors, knowing he could do nothing. Kuja dodged another of Rosso's attacks but Azul swung his large cannon like weapon at Kuja, hitting him square in the back of the head. The genome crumpled to the floor, blood trickling onto the floor as the doors shut with a hiss.

* * *

Sephiroth stared in hatred at the woman in front of him. She needed no introduction to him, he knew who she was. The one who had haunted his dreams ever since the incident in Nibelheim all those years ago. Jenova, The Calamity from the Skies, Heaven's Dark Harbinger call her what you would. 

Interestingly, Sephiroth noticed she looked a lot like Aerith but he knew she was nothing like the gentle flower girl. If Jenova had taken a human form, it could only mean that the remnants had joined with what remained of JENOVA's cells and since he had already been resurrected, it formed Jenova instead.

She laughed gently, "I hope Seymour was suitable entertainment for you all."

"Who are you?" Squall asked.

Jenova smiled, "How rude of me," then began pacing slowly in front of the group, "…I have many names. Some call me the Calamity from the Skies."

She stopped looking into Sephiroth's eyes, "Some call me Mother…But you can call me Jenova."

The group gasped, obviously shocked. They had heard the stories Sephiroth had told them about Jenova but they obviously hadn't expected to ever see her standing in the flesh in front of their very eyes.

"That's Jenova?" Zidane asked looking at the One Winged Angel.

"Apparently so."

Jenova laughed, "I would have graced you with my presence sooner but I had to deal with a rat. Or should I say monkey…"

Obviously angry, Zidane glared at the silver haired woman, "What have you done to Kuja?"

Choosing to ignore the Third Angel, Jenova continued, "I wanted to gauge the strength of my opponents," then looking at them in turn she said, "The One Winged Angel…the Sorcery Angel…the Angel of Death…the High Summoner…and the heroes of Hyne."

She paused again, "I am impressed, you are stronger than I thought but not enough to intimidate me. Now I'm sure you all want to vent your anger out on me but sadly I must depart." Jenova smiled sadistically, "Don't fret though. I will leave you in Ultimecia's company."

At this the Hyne group drew their weapons and Sephiroth remembered where he had heard the name Ultimecia before. It was the evil they had defeated a year previously.

Jenova stepped backwards as a black swirling portal appeared. Sensing she was about to leave, Sephiroth ran up to the Calamity. Unfortunately the portal disappeared as he reached it, then a Firaga spell flew through the air towards him. He rolled to the side, the spell sailing past him.

Unfazed by her miss, Ultimecia spread her black angel like wings. She floated up as the ground began to glow white. A huge beast burst from it letting loose a horrendous roar. It seemed to vaguely look like a lion but had with red horns and wings.

As Sephiroth looked around at the expressions on the resident group's faces he could tell they had met this beast before.

"Griever." Rinoa gasped.

* * *

Yazoo ran as fast as he could through the valleys of bones. A short distance behind, Garnet and Eiko unable to keep up with him. Occasionally he would have to stop so they could catch up. 

The terrain of the area was not new to Yazoo but it was still jarring to see the gigantic skeletons of monsters littering the cliff faces and forming bridges across them. Eiko had been scared when she first saw the valley.

Yazoo stopped when he heard the familiar squeak of the purple haired girl behind him. He was surprised when he saw she had bumped into somebody. It was a large, dark skinned man and beside him was a silver haired woman with an eye patch over her left eye.

"Huh? What's a kid doin' here?" the man asked.

"I am not a kid!" Eiko exclaimed.

Fortunately Garnet stepped in, "We are lost and accidentally found our way here."

The silver haired woman looked at the trio, then stopped on Yazoo and barked, "SHM. DELING."

Her partner looked at Yazoo carefully, "Yeah, you do look at lot like them silver haired guys who attacked Deling City, ya know."

Yazoo shifted nervously but then realised the man didn't seem to appreciate what he had just said. Garnet eyed Yazoo with suspicion but said nothing.

Attacking Deling City hadn't been entirely their fault. Because they looked very different from the native population, the Deling City authorities had attacked them for no reason. Kadaj, being Kadaj had overreacted a little and had fought back quite violently and Loz had joined in. Unable to restrain his brothers, Yazoo had been forced to get involved as well.

"We didn't know about that," Garnet said feigning ignorance.

"Really? It was all over the news, they were blasting down police helicopters and everything. It was only when some SeeD got involved that they left, ya know?"

"We don't really pay attention to the news."

Then realising something Garnet said, "Oh, how rude of me. My name is Garnet and this is Eiko and Yazoo."

"I'm Raijin and this is Fujin, ya know?"

"SEPHIROTH. RESEMBLANCE." Fujin barked.

"You do kinda look like him, ya know?" Raijin commented, looking at the silver haired man.

"You've seen him?" Garnet asked, voicing Yazoo's own thoughts.

"SQUALL."

Raijin nodded, "Yeah kinda. We saw him at the Garden and Seifer told us about him, ya know? He's with Squall and the others."

"Was there someone called Zidane with them?" Yazoo asked.

"That weird guy with the monkey tail? Yeah he was with them, ya know? You lookin' for Zidane and Sephiroth?"

Garnet nodded, "Do you know where they are?"

"RAGNAROK."

"They're on the Ragnarok, ya know. Not sure where it is though."

Garnet looked disheartened as did Eiko but obviously seeing their expression Fujin barked, "HELP. FIND"

* * *

Rinoa blasted another shadow creature as it jumped up at her. Griever was not the only enemy they were having to face. Strange four legged creatures had appeared from the shadows and though they weren't a challenge for the battled hardened heroes they were a nuisance. Quistis was busying herself with dealing with them, one hit of the Save the Queen defeating them instantly. This allowed the others to concentrate on Griever. Rinoa sighed as she unleashed another thunder spell at the lion like GF, she never thought she would have to battle it again. 

Zell jumped up to Griever and unleashed a punch combo on it but the effects were barely noticeable. Griever had little chance to recover as Squall and Seifer slashed again and again at the GF, having more luck than Zell. Griever swung one of its huge arms in Gunbladists' direction. It missed Squall but hit Seifer. Fortunately, almost immediately a green glow surrounded him and his wounds where healed. Rinoa glanced back and saw Yuna had cast the cura spell. She wasn't an angel and wasn't from Hyne so she had changed into her White Mage form and was casting, cure, protect and shell on the group.

Beside Yuna, Selphie unleashed a trio of ice spells at Griever. The spells hit the GF causing it to growl in pain. Then Selphie summoned one of her own GFs, Leviathan. It created a huge tidal wave which slammed into the lion GF a moment after it endured an attack from Irvine' GF Pandemona.

As the water cleared, Rinoa could see her two fellow angels zipping around Griever, striking it with their weapons. Her weapon was not as useful for close combat so she remained slightly back using magic.

She readied a Firaga spell but was interrupted as something grazed her cheek. Shocked she brought her hand up to her face and found a long gash along it, trickling blood. It was as if a bullet had flown past and scratched her cheek. Horrified, she glanced around desperately but she couldn't see who had shot it and the others didn't seem to have noticed it either.

"There's someone firing at us!" Rinoa cried to her friends.

However with the noise of the battle they couldn't hear her, they continued attacking Griever and any shadow creatures that got in their way. As she turned back to Griever, she was relieved to see Zidane hovering next to her.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone is shooting at us," she replied.

Zidane frowned, "Is that how you got that?" he asked indicating her cheek.

She nodded.

"I'll fly round and warn the others."

Nervous, Rinoa resumed her onslaught of spells. She was now half expecting a bullet to rip through one of her friends or even herself any minute now. Zidane returned to battle Griever, having delivered the message but the group were all busy. No one could go check, all they could do was wait and hope.

Rinoa saw Griever raise his arm ready to swipe again and then she realised that the unfortunate person in his path was Selphie who was readying to summon a GF again. Rinoa quickly readied another spell to distract Griever but another bullet ripped through the air, narrowly missing Griever. Distracted, Rinoa's spell missed and Griever struck Selphie throwing her back like a rag doll.

"Selphie!"

On instinct Rinoa readied a healing spell as she flew towards her friend. As she neared her though, a green glow surrounded Selphie. She got, healed and as shocked as Rinoa. The sorceress glanced back at Yuna but she was busy healing Quistis and then looked around at the rest of the group. They were all busy; none of them had healed her.

"Who did it?" Selphie mouthed to Rinoa.

* * *

**_A/N:  
I know Rinoa called herself the 'Tainted Angel' but I liked both it and the 'Sorceress Angel' so Tainted is what Rinoa decided to call herself and 'Sorcery Angel' is her official title.   
BTW, Zidane's title is 'Angel of Death' but for obvious reasons he doesn't like it so the other angels call him 'the Third Angel'.   
See Zellycat, Yazoo's fine. I wouldn't hurt my favourite SHM unless necessary   
Okay, I know Jenova is a very stereotypical villain, but she is so fun to write for, I totally go into sadistic bitch mode when writing her dialogue, how easy it is kinda scared me...   
When I showed this chapter to my spell checker she said "make Garnet have an affair with Yazoo"…she is so weird… When she spell-checked the original Angelic Intervention she said do Garnet x Sephy. (Shakes head) What am I going to do with her…   
Thanks to my reviewers, Zellycat, Setra Kakan, WildfireDreams, StarcatcherAD, Leontinllybalambgirl, Rakunya, and The Angry Scientist, you guys rock! _**


	12. Remnant of an Angel

_**Author's Notes:**  
First of all let me embarrass a particular individual who obviously thinks I am stupid. This is a review they posted for the original Angelic Intervention story on chapter 2_  
"_The Nameless One is in fact Rinoa, who has gone crazy after Squall died. You made it way too obvious."  
Er, no I didn't. You read ahead, and you thought if you posted the review for chapter 2 rather than a later chapter that I wouldn't realise._  
…_Sigh…Aren't flamers so annoying and childish  
Anyways rant over  
Second of all let me apologise for my lack of posting lately. I've been working on other projects/lacking muse/doing Uni work.  
Anyway, thanks to the recent spurt of favourites for this story I decided to start working on this fic again  
I might even get three chapters done before Christmas if muse allows.  
Anyhoo, here's the first chapter in 4 Months o.O_

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Remnant of an Angel**

Yazoo had heard stories about Griever from the other members of Jenova's group. A ferocious beast who guarded the sorceress Ultimecia, a Guardian Force not so different from the summon beasts from his own world. The GF was said to be strong but Yazoo never imaged how strong and it was all the more impressive that just 6 teenagers had managed to defeat it.

However at that moment there were more than just 6 teenagers; battling it were the three angels one of which was a sorceress, her knight, the High summoner of Spira and five other very capable warriors. But Griever was posing a problem. While it was true that the High Summoner could not kill Griever, the others could. He was injured but still fighting.

Yazoo was doing what he could too, firing at the beast whenever he got an opportunity, but with so many battlers in the way it was difficult. He had even hit the sorceress once; fortunately the injury wasn't serious. Griever could not be killed by him, he knew but he could at least slow it down.

Garnet and Eiko were helping as well, whenever someone needed healing and the High Summoner hadn't noticed, they would use their magic.

The trio were hiding in the woods behind those battling Griever, Garnet and Eiko didn't really have anything to fear from them but Yazoo did. He knew Sephiroth would not be pleased to see him and if Sephiroth spotted Yazoo in the heat of battle, it was likely the older man would attack him. Though even when not in battle, the One Winged angel still might kill his remnant on sight.

"Oh well…" Yazoo thought sadly, "At least I will have fulfilled my promise to get Garnet and Eiko safely to Zidane."

Strangely, the two girls did not seem scared of Sephiroth. Garnet seemed suspicious of him, but Eiko seemed to admire him. After Fujin and Rajin had dropped them off, Eiko had been telling Yazoo about when Sephiroth went to her dimension, Gaiaterra and he was surprised by her tales. It sounded like the experience had changed the silver haired warrior but it didn't necessarily mean Sephiroth wouldn't kill him. Another interesting thing Yazoo noted in the young summoner's account was that she had no knowledge of when Sephiroth entered the Desert Palace alone. He didn't seem to have told them of what he saw in there.

Yazoo remembered that time sadly, the Palace had a strange aura to it, one that turned you into something not entirely like yourself…He regretted what he had said to Sephiroth then, now that he knew there mother was a traitor. From what his brothers had told him, it sounded like Sephiroth disliked him the least…that probably wouldn't save him though.

Sighing, Yazoo aimed his Velvet Nightmare again and fired.

* * *

Zidane only just avoided Griever's massive arm as it swung at him and Sephiroth, who dodged it far more gracefully. The genome felt for the heroes of Hyne. They had battled Griever before with less people and had won, but now, despite having more battlers, the GF was posing a problem. Of course it was possible that Jenova had made it more powerful. There was also a further disadvantage in that someone was shooting at them. Another bullet zipped past his wing and hit Griever. The gunman had only hit someone once though and it was nowhere near fatal.

"….Wait a minute," Zidane muttered.

Judging from where the bullets were coming from, he guessed the gunman was hiding in the trees behind them. And though it was a fair distance they should still be able to hit one of the group but most of the bullets were hitting Griever. No-one could be that bad an aim could they? Maybe the one shooting was trying to help them.

As Zidane hovered stationary in mid-air, another bullet hit Griever in the exact place as the previous one, lodging the bullet in further. The GF roared in pain and fell to the ground.

Squall charged at the beast, his Gunblade raised as Rinoa charged a spell. Remarkably, Squall and Rinoa's attacks hit simultaneously finally defeating Griever. Zidane assumed that such precision was because of their Sorceress-Knight bond.

With the GFs defeat, the shadow creatures disappeared as well, leaving just the group there, tired and relieved. Sephiroth looked far from relieved though, he looked furious. Spinning in mid-air, he began flying towards the woods behind them.

"Sephiroth?" Zidane shouted to the older warrior.

He didn't seem to hear, so the genome followed him. Sephiroth landed just before the woods and stormed into it. Zidane had seen Sephiroth slightly annoyed, but never this angry and he wondered what would make the silver haired warrior so furious.

Zidane landed as well and ran after the older angel who seemed to be able to travel at speed even whilst walking. Ahead of the older man, Zidane saw a black and silver blur move through the trees. Sephiroth obviously saw this as well and fired an ice spell at it. Whatever it was, he managed to hit causing it to fall to the ground.

As the pair walked towards it, it began to get up; allowing them to see it was a person, a silver-haired person, dressed in black. Most likely one of Sephiroth's remnants; that would explain why he was so angry and Zidane was not surprised when the figure looked up at Sephiroth showing he had eyes like his as well.

The One Winged Angel swung the Masamune at the remnant, but with speed to rival his, it raised its gun and blocked it. The remnant's weapon was like a Gunblade in a way, but instead of being a blade with a gun on it, it was a gun with a blade along the bottom.

"That solves the mystery as to who was shooting at Griever," Zidane thought, "But why was he helping us? Unless he was the one Kuja mentioned. Who he didn't think was entirely loyal to Jenova."

"Is this one of your remnants?" Zidane asked.

"Unfortunately," Sephiroth replied, "This is Yazoo. He's the one who shot you."

"What!"

Zidane turned sharply when he heard someone yell and was surprised to see a woman he recognised emerge from behind a tree.

"What do you mean he shot you?" Garnet asked.

"What are you doing here?"

Before she could answer something fell from the branch above them. The something was actually a someone; with long purple hair and a horn on her forehead.

"Eiko?"

Garnet unfazed asked again, "Did he just say that Yazoo shot you?"

Zidane looked at Yazoo then at Garnet and said, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah," Eiko said, "He helped us escape from Jenova's base and then find you."

"Why would he do that?" Sephiroth said, looking at the remnant accusingly, "Unless he had some other motive."

Zidane felt sorry for Yazoo, true, it was likely he was the one who had shot him but if he had helped Garnet and Eiko as well, in Zidane's eyes that redeemed him. So he was willing to give the guy a chance, he doubted Sephiroth would see it that way though. He looked ready to kill something, namely Yazoo.

"I don't know who shot me," Zidane said, "But even if he did, he helped you two so I forgive him. Besides, I'm still alive aren't I?"

Garnet didn't look convinced and Zidane couldn't tell who looked angrier, her or Sephiroth.

Eiko looked at Garnet nervously then said, "He could have killed us at any time, but he didn't…He and his brothers were just used by Jenova, and you know if he hadn't stopped Jenova when she tried to drown me, I'd probably be dead."

Zidane wondered what had happened to the two girls since they had come to Hyne and also wondered how they had gotten there in the first place. However at those words, he couldn't help glancing at Sephiroth to see his reaction to what Eiko had said. He was looking at Yazoo, obviously surprised, but the remnant kept his gaze to the floor.

The third angel had to admit, he was impressed at how mature Eiko could be when needed; he hadn't seen that in her since just after Sephiroth left Gaiaterra. Garnet's expression had softened slightly but she was still visibly annoyed, now at Zidane.

"Why did you leave the Castle without telling me?" she asked.

"Erm…"

"Yeah!" Eiko added, "I thought I told you not to get hurt or killed!"

Zidane smiled sheepishly, "To be fair you didn't say 'transported to another dimension.'"

Neither, Eiko, Garnet nor Sephiroth looked impressed, though Sephiroth rarely looked anything other than stoic.

Zidane mentally thanked whatever divine presence existed in Hyne when Rinoa floated down from the treetops. However Garnet and Eiko were less than thankful to see her. Garnet gasped and Eiko hid behind Zidane. The sorceress noticed their reaction and was obviously saddened.

"She's okay," Zidane said, "She's on our side."

"But that's Rinoa," Eiko said timidly.

"She isn't going to hurt you," Sephiroth added.

The young summoner turned and looked at him for a moment before coming out from behind the third angel. She then tentatively walked up to Rinoa.

Eiko looked at her for minute then smiled and said, "I'm Eiko."

Zidane couldn't help but feel a bit jealous that Eiko had chosen to believe Sephiroth rather than him. Still, Sephiroth was the suspicious type and if he said someone wasn't a threat, he was probably right.

Rinoa smiled as well, "Zidane has told me and the others all about you and how you helped save Gaia," she then looked across at the other girl and said, "You must be Garnet."

Fortunately, his wife looked a little less nervous now and nodded in response to the sorceress. Rinoa then noticed Yazoo and gasped. It was no wonder she was surprised, he had been one of the people who attacked Deling City, after all.

"Did you see Kuja at the base?" Zidane asked, hastily changing the subject.

The two summoners looked at each other sadly, then at Yazoo who was actually looking at them as well. Zidane didn't need to ask anymore, it seemed Kuja was dead…or as good as…He hoped Kuja hadn't gotten killed to make sure Yazoo got Garnet and Eiko to him…If that were the case it would be the 2nd time he had died for his younger brother's sake. Zidane seemed to have been right; this did seem to be a much bigger fight than last time. There were already two victims, Terra who Zidane hadn't met, and now Kuja. How many more would they lose? Now that Eiko and Garnet were here as well, might they be killed? No! He would make damn sure they weren't.

Zidane looked up when he felt a presence in front of him and nearly jumped when he saw it was Yazoo and he was holding something out to him. It was a strange blue sphere.

"What's this?"

"I don't know," Yazoo replied, "Kuja told me to give it to you."

Zidane glanced at it and turned it over in his hands. What was it? Was it 'materia' like Sephiroth had mentioned they had in his world? Or maybe it was from Hyne.

"Rinoa, do you know what this is?"

Rinoa took it from him and looked at it for a moment before handing it back and saying, "No idea."

"'No idea', what?" Selphie asked as she and the others emerged through the trees.

"What this is," Zidane said holding it up.

"It's a sphere," Yuna said.

"…That's kind of obvious," Zell commented.

Yuna walked across and examined it, "It's a…movie sphere? No…A commsphere… How did one get here?"

"Kuja gave it to Yazoo," Eiko answered.

Selphie squealed and ran up to Eiko, "Aww! She's so cute! And she has a horn!"

"Can't…breathe…" the summoner gasped.

"Who are these people?" Quistis asked.

Ignoring Eiko's plight Zidane said, "The one Selphie is crushing is Eiko, that's Yazoo," he said pointing at the silver haired youth, "And this is my wife, Garnet."

He then indicated the others, "Garnet, Eiko, Yazoo this is Selphie, Irvine, Squall, Seifer, Quistis, Zell and Yuna."

"How did you get here?" Quistis asked, "Did Aerith send you as well?"

"You've…seen…Aerith?" Eiko managed to ask.

"She's the one who sent me and Sephiroth here," Zidane replied, "Selphie let her go, you're going to kill her."

The brunette smiled sheepishly and let go.

"What's a commsphere anyway?" Rinoa asked.

Yuna took the sphere from Zidane, "If there's a commsphere somewhere else it'll show an image of what's happening at the other one. But if there aren't anymore in Hyne it probably won't work."

"How do you know that anyway?" Garnet asked, "Are you from another dimension as well?"

Yuna nodded, "Yeah, the one I come from is called 'Spira'."

"Wait a minute," Eiko said, "Spira sounds familiar…where have I heard it?...Oh yeah! Aerith said I'm linked to a girl there… what was her name? Ric…Rick…Ryuk…?...Rikku!"

"You're linked to Rikku?" Yuna asked.

"You know her?"

Yuna smiled, "She's my cousin."

"This meeting is nice and all," Seifer interrupted, "But can we see if that 'commsphere' or whatever works?"

Yuna stepped forward and pressed something on the sphere. From it burst a stream of light which flickered for a few seconds before it formed an image in front of the group.

* * *

_**A/N:**  
Sorry it's just a little chapter, it just seemed like a good stopping point. Hopefully the next chapter should be up soon  
Again thanks to my ever-increasing list of __reviewers __:Zellycat, Setra Kakan, WildfireDreams, StarcatcherAD, Leontinllybalambgirl, Rakunya, __The Angry Scientist,  
Favouriters:__ Twilight of the Wolves, Sirius-Black-Is-Not-Dead, KamiKaze no Kage and Eli the Brat  
And__alerters(?):__ harmlessghost, infraredphaeton, myeerah, question61 and timydamonkey  
And yes, yes I do like Death Note (Ryuk reference)_


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